A World Apart
by Panther Moon
Summary: What would happen if Alphonse's soul detatched from his suit of armor? A story about where Al ends up and his journey to return home. FMA X Naruto
1. Chapter 1

Alphonse Elric opened his eyes and stared up into the twisted foliage high above his head. At first, he was only mesmerized by the shifting shapes above him, but then he fidgeted uncomfortably as he became aware of a stick poking into his back. He moved to a more comfortable spot and then raised his hand above his head as if to touch the leaves, and watched the way his thin fingers blocked the light from the sky.

Wait.

He had hands, and now that he thought about it, he could feel his stomach grumbling with hunger.

Alphonse sat up straight with shock then promptly lay back down as vertigo turned his world inside out.

How could this be? Only a little while ago he'd been saying goodnight to Edward back at their hotel in Central. At that time, his soul had been bound to a suit of armor rendering him unable to feel. What was going on?

Propping himself up once again, Al took a better look at his surroundings and himself. On first glance, the forest had looked normal enough, but now Al realized he'd never seen trees like this before. For one thing, they were huge. A whole car could fit inside the trunk of the tree nearest him. Al shivered at the thought of what monstrous creatures could possibly inhabit a forest like this.

Al shivered again, and this time because he was cold. His thin fingers were the least of his problems. Looking down at his chest he could count every one of his ribs, and as his disorientation wore off the gnawing pain in his stomach grew worse with each passing second. Besides the fact that he had no fat on his bones to keep him warm, he wasn't wearing anything.

Shoving aside nagging thoughts as to how he'd arrived here, he set to work. The first order of business was to find something to make into clothes, and then get something to eat. Al sighed as and resigned himself to the fact that he wasn't likely to find an apple pie anywhere in the general vicinity. Though, if that was his only desire that didn't come true, his luck was shaping up.

Pulling himself to his feet, Al winced as ground cover dug into the soft soles of his feet. Toddling over to a nearby bush, he began to strip it of its soft leaves and place them in a pile by his side. When he figured he had enough, he clapped his hands together, made some mental calculations, and slapped his hands palm down on the leaves. Blue light flashed and when it was gone, the fibers from the leaves had been turned into a rough shirt and a pair of pants.

Al smiled, and then almost blacked out as a wave of weariness swept over him. Perhaps Alchemy was too much exertion for his body to handle right now. He pulled on the rough clothing and then weighed the odds of blacking out against the potential benefits of making shoes. The ground around him was rough, littered with discarded branches and foliage. Some of the bushes nearby looked to support thorns and the likelihood that they had shed those thorns on the ground around them was high. His feet were scratched even from the short walk over here. If he was to travel any distance he would need some sort of foot covering or else end up looking as if his feet has been put through a cheese grater.

On the other hand, if he lost consciousness in a strange place like this, he didn't know what would happen. It was better not to risk it. He ripped the fabric on his pant legs just below the knee, and wrapped his feet tightly. It was better than nothing and he needed to keep moving.

In a patch of sunlight, Al paused to look up at the sky. The sun shone with a brilliant whitish-yellow light.

White light.

White. . .

Al stumbled as the dam in his memory broke and his mind was flooded with images: white light, a towering gate, a luminescent figure, his own body looking back at him, a scornful smile, falling . . . then darkness.

Everything made sense now. His soul had been rejected from the suit of armor it had called home and had rebounded to his body trapped within the Gate of Truth. Al and his older brother Ed had hypothesized about what would happen if Al's soul were to separate from the armor. Most of their conclusions had been bad. Al had even thought that he would be forced to spend eternity wandering as a disembodied soul.

Only in his wildest fantasies would he have believed it possible for his soul to simply return to his body. And then for Truth to toss him back through the gate like that without another toll . . . it was beyond belief. To think that after all they'd gone through he would suddenly just be returned to his body – it was too easy.

Al leaned against a tree for support against the thought that had just occurred. If his soul had been rejected from the suit of armor, the armor was still there – still sitting in their hotel room as a lifeless piece of metal. It was sitting there devoid of life for Ed to find when he woke up.

Al choked back a sob. Edward would draw the only reasonable conclusion – Al was dead. He would have no reason to suspect otherwise. And, with Al gone, there would be no one to stop him from doing something crazy. Something potentially deadly.

Forgetting the state he was in and even his hunger, Al broke into a run. He didn't know where he was heading; he simply followed his sixth sense in the hope that it would lead him back to Central.

He paid no attention to his ragged breath or the sharp wood and stone that cut through his makeshift shoes. He simply ran until his foot snagged on a root and he skidded to a stop on the rough ground. Even then he tried to go on but the blackness proved swifter. One final thought grazed Al's mind before he slipped into unconsciousness – I have to get home.


	2. Chapter 2

Another routine border patrol on yet another uneventful day. At least the weather was pleasant. Golden sunlight sparkled through the gaps in the leaves dancing across the ground like fireflies as a light breeze coaxed the branches into motion. Even patrol could be almost relaxing on such a day – almost being the key word. With incessant nonsensical chatter chewing her ear off, Sakura doubted that even the hot springs would be peaceful. A vein in her forehead popped.

"Naruto, will you ever just SHUT UP? We're supposed to be on patrol here. How are we ever supposed to spot an enemy when they can hear you coming miles away?" She rolled her eyes, "Sheesh, you're such an idiot." Hinata, the third member of their team, giggled sheepishly at the last remark, but mostly at the pathetic, kicked-puppy-dog face Naruto gave Sakura.

"Come on Sakura, I'm not an idiot anymore. I mean, I never _was_ an idiot. I mean, I'm grown up now! Huh?" He was talking to thin air. He hadn't noticed Hinata signaling to him and Sakura and pulling her off in the opposite direction. Naruto glanced around, befuddled, until he located the backs of his two teammates disappearing into the foliage of the forest. "Hey! Wait for me!" Naruto yelled after them as he rushed to follow.

Farther ahead, Hinata explained to Sakura that she had spotted what appeared to be a person with her Byakugan. The person didn't appear to be moving and Hinata feared there might be trouble. As they neared the point, Hinata signaled and they slowed to a cautious pace. Still under the cover of the trees, Sakura assessed the situation. The person Hinata had located looked to be around their age with blond hair like Naruto's. He was lying spread-eagled on the ground and, were it not for his hair, the color of his clothes would have rendered him near invisible so close in color were they to the surrounding undergrowth. Sakura was in the process of scanning the area for trouble when Naruto, unable to stop after his mad dash to catch up, came barreling through.

"WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!" He shouted as he tumbled to a stop a mere foot from the boy. Sakura hung her head in despair – so much for caution, Naruto couldn't even arrive quietly like a proper ninja. At least she hadn't seen any traps yet, and Naruto hadn't set anything off, so it appeared to be safe enough. Hinata motioned that she would stand rear-guard and continued to scan the area for any potential threat while Sakura proceeded to where Naruto, ever ignorant of the word 'caution,' was looking the boy over. "Hey, Sakura," Naruto called, "you might want to hurry it up a little. This kid doesn't look too great. I think he needs your help."

Sakura sped up and, after one close-up look at the kid, pulled out her radio. "This is Sakura from the West Patrol, we found an injured child and I'm requesting permission to return with him immediately. No other threats are present but Naruto and Hinata will be remaining behind in case. Over." Sakura waited just long enough for the crackle of the ensuing "Permission granted" before picking up the kid. She pushed aside Naruto's offer of assistance. The kid was light. In fact, he was way too light. The kid needed more assistance then she could offer in the field. A simple once-over couldn't cure near-starvation – he needed the hospital. 'Besides,' she thought as she set a rapid pace back toward Konoha, 'something like this could mean trouble for the village. I need to figure out what's going on as soon as possible. '

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Al opened his eyes for the second time in one day. This time, much to his bewilderment, the view was different. Instead of trees and sky, he was looking at a plain white ceiling. Instead of ground, he was lying on what felt like a bed and covered with a sheet. The last thing he remembered was running through a forest, and this was most definitely not a forest anymore. Al began to feel panicked. Where was he now? The only thing that kept him from losing his mind altogether was the fact that he could feel the sheets against his skin. The fact that he could feel was enough to ensure him that his ordeal in the forest, and the Gate for that matter, had been real. It didn't explain, however, how he got here or where here was. He tried to sit up to get a better look at the room around him but a hand on his chest pushed him back down.

Startled, Al jolted then turned to stare up at the owner of the hand; a young girl with pink hair. She smiled kindly and the softness of her eyes reassured Al that she meant him no harm. "O-genki desu ka?"

Alphonse just stared incomprehensively.

"O-genki desu ka?**" **she repeated with a little more force and waited for an answer.

"I. . . I don't understand what you're saying miss. I'm really sorry." This time it was the pink haired girl's turn to look confused. Al sighed; this was going to be difficult if he couldn't even communicate with the people around him. He pointed to himself, "Al." She didn't look like she understood where he was coming from, so he repeated the action: "Al." Al noted with relief that her eyes lit up and she appeared to understand. She pointed to herself and replied, "Sakura."

"Sakura" walked over to the side of the room and picked up a tray of food that made Al's mouth water and placed it next to him. Hungrily, Al reached for the fork only to pull up short. There was no utensil resembling a fork on the plate. There was a spoon of sorts, but it was oddly shaped. Sakura smiled, misunderstanding his hesitation and gestured for him to eat. Al decided then and there that he would eat the soup with the spoon, but everything else must be finger food. The one thing he hoped was that he wasn't expected to eat the two sharpened sticks off on the side. They didn't look very tasty.

Sakura looked on incredulously as her new patient treated his meal as finger food and giggled at his attempts to keep the noodles in his soup from falling off his spoon. She laughed even harder when he used his chopsticks as skewers to stab his meat and then left him alone to finish his meal. Sakura was still chuckling as she went to inform Tsunade of the language barrier that she had encountered.


	3. Chapter 3

**a/n: I forgot to put a disclaimer on the earlier chapters, so here it is now. I don't own Naruto or Fullmetal Alchemist no matter how many key chains of Alphonse I collect. Enjoy :D**

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25, 26, 27 . . . Alphonse extended his arms the complete the push-up. As he continued his exercise, he kept one ear pricked for any sound of footsteps in the hall. Yesterday, he hadn't been paying attention and the next thing he knew he'd been staring up at Sakura's horrified face. After being shoved back into bed and shrilled at for what felt like forever, Al was pretty sure he got the gist of the lecture – Sakura wouldn't tolerate him doing something potentially harmful. Sakura reminded him of Izumi in a way, the potential was there to be warm and caring but, like a mother bear, she was a force to be reckoned with when riled. Besides, she could be just plain scary. Al had been on the receiving end of Izumi's wrath more then once and had no desire to feel Sakura's.

Distant footsteps echoed down the hall, and Al flung himself onto his bed, buried his head in his pillow, and feigned sleep in a rush. The footfalls came to a halt right outside – the door slid open. Al began to smile as he heard the steps change to the sound of tip-toeing. Sakura would never tip-toe. Sakura would never be fooled by the fake sleep. There was only one person it could be.

Al held himself still and attempted even breathing as he listened to the approach. Just a little bit closer . . . almost there . . . almost . . . NOW!

The pillow he had been resting on now found itself coming into contact with a different, and not so prepared, face. It also connected with just a tad more force then it usually would.

Its hapless recipient toppled over backwards with a resounding crash.

Alphonse was almost laughing too hard to sit up and survey his handiwork. Al grinned down at his friend. He'd pulled pranks before, but this was by far the greatest reaction he had received. His bout only intensified when the devious pillow fell away, leaving its victim's disgruntled face open to the world.

That expression soon faded to be replaced with one of mirth that near rivaled Al's own. They were both in stitches when a nearby nurse poked her head around the door to check the situation. She shook her head in apparent disbelief and resignation, "Naruto," she muttered as she walked away.

Al had first met Naruto the day after he had been brought to this hospital and now, almost a week later; he dropped by regularly to visit. Even though they couldn't understand each other, Alphonse figured that Naruto was just glad to find someone who would listen to him. Most of his visits had consisted solely of Naruto chatting away to a bed-ridden Al.

It hadn't been so bad, actually. It had been quite nice to listen to someone so happy and full of energy. It broke the monotony of the hospital.

Al was jerked back to the present by Naruto's tug on his arm. He was practically jumping up and down in excitement and kept pointing towards the door while babbling incoherently. Judging by the tone of his voice, his words would have been indecipherable even if Al knew the language. Al's eyes lit up as the significance of Naruto's pointing finger dawned on him. Outside. Naruto wanted Al to go somewhere.

Al was standing by the door an instant later. Any repercussions of leaving were trivial compared to his desire to get outside. He could hardly wait he feel the wind on his face again. Finally he'd be able to experience all of the things he had missed while he was locked up in that old suit of armor.

Naruto led him through the hospital in a rush, and before Al had time to think, they were outside. It appeared as though they were in the center of a big city. There were people everywhere talking, buying, selling, or just walking on the streets. If not for the clothes of the people and the architecture of the buildings, he could well have been in any Amestrisian city. The architecture was a bit weird, there were fewer sharp lines and angles than Central, these buildings were mostly made out of wood, and looked almost as if they had grown here, not built.

His awe was interrupted by Naruto pulling Al beneath an overhang and into a shop. Al immediately perked up, it was a food shop, and it smelled delicious. Naruto plopped down on a stool, spoke some gibberish to the man behind the counter and then motioned for Al to sit next to him. He started talking and waving his arms around emphatically. It was easy to tell how much he loved the place. Al beamed back. How nice it was to share in something like this with a friend, and everyone in the world seemed happy: the man behind the counter, the people in the street, even the nurses at the hospital had been in a good mood. There seemed to be no danger here. His mood only got better when the bowl of noodle-soup-egg-stuff proved to be as good as he'd hoped.

They had just finished and Naruto was searching for money in his funny little frog purse when a shadow blocked out the light. This wasn't one of those "the-sun-happened-to-go-behind-a-cloud" shadows either. Al had the bad feeling that there was something bad standing behind him, and it was only confirmed when Naruto looked up and blanched. He gave a small smile, but Al could see the true look in his eyes – the look of one who is deathly afraid.

"Konnichiwa, Sakura"


	4. Chapter 4

Sakura had been having a perfectly wonderful day. That is, until she had arrived at Al's room and found him missing. She had been specifically ordered by Tsunade-sama to bring Al to see her _as soon as possible_. And you didn't want to be around the Hokage when she was upset. Invariably, she would find a way to make you upset too. Sakura knew.

So, she'd been forced to search.

She had looked all over the building and couldn't find a trace of him. If he had managed to get out into the city, he could be anywhere. Her search had seemed hopeless until she had found a nurse that happened to recall Naruto visiting. Then Sakura relaxed. If he was with Naruto, there was only one place he could be.

That was what had happened to spoil her day and now leave here standing outside of Ichiraku Ramen behind Al with her arms folded and every molecule of her being promising death to a certain blond-haired idiot. Named idiot was looking up with blatant fear and a stupid smile plastered on his face. That look always annoyed Sakura. "Hi, Sakura" he managed to say. Sakura just scowled harder.

She snorted. "You are so lucky I'm in a rush right now, or I'd hit you so hard you wouldn't wake up for a week. Didn't you get the orders that he's not to leave the hospital? You," she said to Al, placing a hand on his shoulder, "are coming with me."

Sakura began grumbling to herself as she cast one last glare promising a slow and painful death at Naruto, and then proceeded to drag the other hapless blond by the arm.

"I swear, I should have knocked some sense into him a long time ago. I can't believe his own stupidity hasn't gotten him killed yet. And now he's gone and got _me _in trouble with the Hokage. Stupid, blond, spiky-haired, stubborn, little…eerg! He's so annoying!" She looked at her captive audience for confirmation, remembered he couldn't understand her, and felt even more annoyed that her perfectly good rant had just gone to waste. She yanked on his arm and picked up the pace, just to make it perfectly clear that for one, she was NOT holding his hand, and two, that he was the one being escorted, and not the other way around.

In less than an eighth of the time it had taken Naruto and Al to get to the ramen shop, Sakura had dragged Al all the way back to the Hokage's chamber. Sakura paused outside the door to allow him to catch his breath. Now she did feel a little bad. He was just recovering, and yet she'd forced him to practically run across the city. She smiled to show that he was forgiven and he seemed to understand.

This language barrier was getting really tiring, but that was hopefully what Tsunade had called them here to solve. Sakura's thought process was interrupted by the door sliding open and Shizune's head popping out.

"Ah, Sakura! I thought I heard a noise. Come in, come in. Lady Hokage was beginning to get impatient." Sakura took a deep breath to steady herself. It was always best to have your wits about you when you talked to the Hokage. She was just as likely to do something strange as Naruto was to do something stupid. She grabbed Al's arm and pulled him into the room behind her.

The first thing that Sakura noticed was that the room was a mess. There were scrolls everywhere, but all except for one seemed to just have been thrown haphazardly against the walls to make room for people to walk. The one exception was sitting on the Hokage's desk, and the Hokage herself was sitting right behind it.

Tsunade looked up and smiled, suddenly seeming to relax. "Sakura, finally. You took long enough. Shizune was making me do paperwork until you arrived, couldn't you have come faster?" There was a teasing note to her voice and Sakura relaxed too. It seemed as if Tsunade's relief at being allowed to stop doing paperwork far outweighed her annoyance at having to do it for so long in the first place.

"I apologize Tsunade-sama, it just so happened that Naruto decided that it would be fun to take our guest here out to eat ramen this morning. It took me awhile to locate them." Tsunade just waved off the explanation with one finely manicured hand.

"Of course, of course, we both know how Naruto is. But we have other matters to attend to. Like this." Tsunade held up the scroll. "Can you guess what this is?"

"Did you actually find a language jutsu Tsunade-sama? That's wonderful!"

Tsunade huffed. "You spoil all the fun, you're not supposed to guess right… oh well, it can't be helped. Yes, it is. Now we'll actually be able to learn what happened to our little friend here. I only regret that it's taken this long, he could have some very important information for us. Bring him over here." With that, Tsunade unrolled the scroll until it stretched from one end of her desk to the other.

Sakura walked forward and looked at it. It was covered in symbols she didn't know, but, then again, she didn't practice this type of jutsu, she was a medical nin. "Are you sure this will work? We don't want to hurt him accidentally."

"What? Oh, of course! There are all sorts of records of it working. Now, let's see, what do we need to do again? Aha! He simply needs to prick his finger and place it in that center part there. I'll take care of the hand signs. What were they again?" Sakura looked at her doubtfully, but sighed as Shizune ushered Al over to the desk, then stood behind him with her hands on his shoulders. Once Tsunade had her mind set on something, she rarely gave up, and she usually had the best interests of her people at heart, so it couldn't be too bad. Sakura just wished sometimes that Tsunade would show her brains a little more.

"Alright! I'm all ready." Tsunade exclaimed. "Now all we need is just to prick your finger and we'll be almost done!" As she said this, she drew out a kunai and pointed it at Al.

"Tsunade-sama, wait a second!" Sakura went over to Al who seemed to be panicked. Well, who wouldn't be, she thought, he's only seemingly held captive by Shizune while a strange lady pointes a knife at him. She spoke random nonsense in the most comforting voice she could for a few seconds, it didn't matter what she said anyway, then took the kunai from Tsunade. "Look, Al, we're not trying to hurt you, we simply need to prick your finger. Like this." With that Sakura took the kunai and pricked her own finger and held it up for him to see. "This is all we're going to do."

Al looked apprehensive as she took his hand, but he allowed her to prick his finger without further fuss. Sakura put his hand on the scroll and motioned for him to leave it there. Tsunade made some quick hand signs and there was a puff of smoke. Sakura watched as the smoke cleared hoping that the jutsu hadn't turned him into some strange animal or something. To her relief, Al still looked the same as before, albeit a little more bewildered.

"Well," said Tsunade, "that was certainly interesting." Al started and his mouth dropped in surprise. Tsunade smiled smugly. "Judging by your reaction, I'd say the jutsu worked. Now we should have some formal introductions. My name is Tsunade, the Hokage of Konoha. What is yours?"

Al closed his mouth and grinned. "Thank you very much for whatever that was you just did." He bowed. "It is a pleasure to meet you all, my name is Alphonse Elric. Al for short. Now, would someone please tell me where I am?"


	5. Chapter 5

Thank you to everyone who has read/reviewed this story, it means a lot to me. Now, on with the story. =]

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Alphonse was elated. He didn't know what they had done, the hand movements and smoke were like no type of Alchemy he'd ever seen, but he was glad to finally be able to understand his rescuers. Alphonse looked at the woman he now knew to be named Tsunade and told her his name, asking where he was at the same time.

Tsunade looked at him strangely. "Why, I already told you. You are in the village of Konoha. The Village hidden in the leaves in the Land of Fire. Don't you know that?"

Alphonse looked around at the three women in the room. All of them were looking at his suspiciously. Al put on his best smile, "Oh! That makes sense. I apologize. I must not have been listening before. I'm not familiar with that … technique… you used and I'll admit I was a little bewildered."

Hopefully they would buy it. Al knew the absolutely worst thing he could do in a situation like this was seem too suspicious. Not knowing where he was would definitely qualify for that one. The second worst was to be caught lying. _Oh well,_ Al thought, _It will only be until I figure out how to get back home. Then everything will go back to normal. Hopefully._

Laughter startled Al out of his thoughts and he looked up to see Tsunade smiling. "Of course it is bewildering if you're not familiar with the ninja techniques. I'm so glad that worked!" She leaned forward suddenly serious "Now, where are you from and what happened." Alphonse was shocked. _Just a second ago she was laughing and now she looks like Izumi. What happened here?_Then her question sunk in. There was no way he was going to tell them what had happened. In order to explain it all, he'd need to mention human transmutation, the philosopher's stone, and so many other things. Sure, they'd saved his life, but that didn't mean he could trust them with such information. The Amestrisian government looked fine to outsiders but was in fact overrun by homunculi. There could always be a similar situation here.

"Um… um… I'm not sure if the name of my country will…um… translate… maybe…could I see a map?" Al was stalling for time. Hopefully with the room as messy as it was it would be at least a few minutes until a map could be located. That was not the case. Tsunade walked over to one of the random piles and pulled a scroll out from the middle of the pile. "Here you are."

_What! Oh come on, don't tell me she was actually organized. Now I don't have any time left. Relax Al, you can do this. Just keep smiling._"Thank you Tsunade." Alphonse reached out to take the scroll.

"_Lady_Tsunade." Corrected Shizune

"Just Tsunade is fine, Al. You are not from our village so you don't have to follow our customs." Tsunade winked and then handed him the scroll and continued joking with Shizune. Sakura walked over to Al as he unrolled the scroll.

Al simply stared at the map. It felt like his world was tilting and everything seemed to be becoming sharper and less identifiable at the same time. There was no way this was right. He had thought he was in Xing because of the types of buildings and the clothes people wore, but that obviously wasn't the case. The map labeled "the world" looked nothing like the world he knew. Where had the gate dropped him? What was going on? His breath caught in his throat.

"ALPHONSE!"

Al jumped and spun around to face Sakura. Everyone in the room was looking at him. _I can do this, just act natural._"Yes, Sakura?"

A sigh of relief. "Sorry I yelled, you just weren't responding and I'd already said your name three times. Are you feeling ok?" Sakura put her hand on his head to check for a fever and frowned when she found none. "Alright, what's going on? Why were you spacing out?"

_Because I just found out that this doesn't even seem to be my _world_ that's why. Oh yeah, and I'm stranded in a foreign city with strange people everywhere, no way of getting home, and my brother probably thinks I'm DEAD. Is that a good enough reason?_But instead he told Sakura, "Sorry about that. That food Naruto gave to me doesn't seem to agree with me much. Running around the city probably didn't help either. I think I need to lie down." It was a guilt trip and he knew it, but at this point he just wanted to leave.

"…" Sakura looked down for a moment.

"Nonsense!" said Tsunade. "The exercise was good for you. Why don't you just sit down in my chair right there and tell us what you found on the map?" She shooed him behind the desk and made him sit down. "Feeling better? Good. Story time." Tsunade moved to the front of the desk and looked at him in a way that clearly said "no more excuses."

Al took a deep breath. _Well, let's just hope my brain doesn't give out on me._"I was lost." Tsunade motioned for him to continue and elaborate. "I… was never much of an outdoors person, so I couldn't really… fend for myself very well. So, I was wandering around in the woods for awhile until you found me, Sakura."

"That's all very well, but where are you _from_." Tsunade motioned at the map. "Surely you have found the translation. And what brought you to our woods in the first place?"

"Well…" Al searched the map desperately. He needed a place far enough away so that they most likely wouldn't know the actual language, but close enough to make his story, whatever it was going to be, plausible. "I'm from…the land of the wind." They all looked at each other and Al began to think that he'd made a mistake.

"The Kazekage is a friend of ours so we should be able to transport you there with relative ease. The only thing is, as far as I know, they speak the same language as we do…" Tsunade looked at Al expectantly.

"…That would be because I don't live in any of the main cities. I'm just a country hick you could say. My village is known for…sheep herding." _That has got to be universal and I might as well stick with the truth as much as I can. I'll be less likely to slip up._ "We don't have much contact with the rest of the country, so most people speak other languages."

"If your village is so rural, how did you get all the way over here?" Sakura butted in. "Your parents shouldn't have allowed you to leave if you know so little about surviving on your own."

"I'm an orphan." _Might as well make them feel sorry for me. They'll be more likely to want to help. It also explains a lot._ "My only family is an older brother, Edward, who I was attempting to look for. That didn't work out so well, as you saw."

"Poor dear. If you give me a description after this, along with your village name, I'll send some information to the Kazekage so he can start a search party looking for him. Everything will be taken care of. He'll even waive the fee if I ask." With this Tsunade gave Al a sympathetic pat on the head. "Doesn't that make you feel better?" There was an edge to her voice but Al didn't notice.

_They actually believed me! They're going to set up a search. It most likely won't find anything, but it never hurts to try. _"Thank you so much Lady Tsunade. How can I ever repay you?"

"You can start by dropping the act." Tsunade was looking straight at Al. "Just listen to yourself. Even Naruto would be able to find the holes in your story. First, if you just "got lost" you wouldn't be this far from home. Also, you would have been sure to come across at least _one_ village on your way here. So, what's really going on? No more lies. I'm starting to get annoyed."

_Great. Just wonderful. Now what? If I can't convince them, I'm dead. I've seen all the weapons around town. I'll never get home again like this; never see Winry or Ed again. Wait…Ed. Ed always said that the bigger the lie the less likely you are to get caught. There's nothing I can do but go for it. If worst comes to worst I'll fight._

"The truth?" Al sighed. "The truth is that I was kidnapped."


	6. Chapter 6

Sakura looked at the blond foreigner in shock. "Kidnapped?" She had thought that he wasn't telling the whole truth, but she hadn't thought that the truth would be so drastically different. The most she had thought of was a slight falsification, not … _this_.

"What happened?" Tsunade's curt demand cut through Sakura's disbelief. Alphonse looked down at his shoes with an expression Sakura couldn't identify. "Go on, and don't try lying again. We just want the facts." Tsunade attempted what Sakura assumed was supposed to be a winning smile. To Sakura, it just looked slightly demented. "You can trust us." Tsunade reassured.

Alphonse looked up, his eyes alight with determination. "It all began a few months ago. I wasn't lying when I said my village was small, but it is also far away from the government. They don't really care about us or what goes on in our area. I guess that's why the bandits chose it." Al paused and took a shaky breath. "They came and took everyone they could find that looked healthy – including me and my brother. We tried to fight, we really did, it was just too sudden. The next thing we knew, we were prisoners. We were prisoners for the next month or so, forced to walk behind our captors and their caravan to who-know-where. I think they were planning on selling us as slaves. We didn't know what to do."

"Lady Tsunade! We should alert Lord Gaara as soon as possible. What Al is describing is highly illegal, not to mention unethical. We need to do –"

"Sakura! Let the boy finish first." Tsunade said with an air of disapproval. "I don't like hearing about this going on nearby, but we have to be patient. They've been on the loose this long; a few more minutes won't matter. Now, Al, please continue. How did you escape? I assume they had guards."

"Yes Ma'am, they did. I didn't as much escape as I was let go. I would never have left without Ed otherwise." Tsunade raised an eyebrow. "They didn't feed us much, you see, and I think my immune system took a hit while we were traveling. Whatever the cause was, I got sick. It was one of the worst illnesses I've ever had. Soon, I couldn't eat if I wanted to and could barely walk. I don't remember much from that time except that eventually they put me in the back of one of the wagons. It was a relief not to have to walk. Unfortunately, I didn't just get better as I think they were hoping for. It got so bad, the proclaimed me a lost cause and left me for dead. I remember them arguing about killing me or just letting the illness finish me off, but they must have decided that I would die anyway."

"The next day, the fever broke and the illness started to subside. I was able to find some water and a little bit of food. I survived. When you found me, I was trying to follow the caravan to find Ed and try to rescue everyone. Although, since I was sick, I didn't really know which way it went. I was lost." Sakura almost laughed at the sheepish look on Al's face as he confessed to not knowing where he was going. That he could tell about such things happening to him and still feel ashamed at being lost amazed her.

"Hmm…" Tsunade rested her chin on her hand as she thought for a second. Then she nodded – a signal Sakura knew meant she had reached a decision. "I believe you."

So did Sakura. Everything he had said made sense. His emaciated state could easily have been caused by an illness and malnutrition. It also explained his lack of proper footwear or clothing. They wouldn't leave someone they thought was going to die with anything of value. Shoes could be expensive.

Al smiled at Tsunade, then everyone else in the room. "Thank you for believing me. I had thought what happened was too far-fetched. Most wouldn't think it was possible."

"Well, we do. And now it is your responsibility to help us catch these people. We can help you get your brother back, but we'll need information." Tsunade pulled out paper and a pen. "First question: what did they look like?"

Alphonse blanched.

* * *

Three hours later, Sakura walked a very woebegone Al back to his room in the hospital. Tsunade's questions had been relentless – always seeking greater detail and more depth from a well that seemed to have hit rock bottom long ago.

Sakura felt bad for the kid (he really did look sick now) but he'd brought it upon himself. If he would have answered properly the first time, Tsunade wouldn't have had to drag it out of him sentence by excruciating sentence. As it was, Tsunade only let him go out of pity and because she had gathered enough information to send a preliminary letter to the Kazekage. 'He's in for more tomorrow.' Sakura thought.


	7. Chapter 7

Hey everyone! Thank you so much for reading this story. I can't believe I have 2,000 hits. O.o It's mind-boggling.

Thank you to everyone who reviewed, faved, alerted, or even just read it. A special thanks goes out to my anonymous reviewers as I can't send you a message. ZAP, bugz, and, of course, purple: your reviews make me smile every time I read them. Also, bugz: thank you for the good advice, I don't think I'll be able to re-write the first chapter, but I will keep it in mind. I really appreciate the time you spent.

Thank you everyone, and now on with the story! =]

* * *

The translucent curtain waved in the breeze drifting through the open window. The scent of cool morning air filled the hospital room. The breeze crept its way toward the only occupant of the room and caused him to fidget at the sudden chill, pulling his blanket up further over his thin shoulders. The morning bird-song, however, was not so easy to ignore. The sounds of the nearby forest filled the sub-consciousness of the boy, prodding him toward self-awareness.

Al's mind was gradually stirring. The first thing he was aware of was the sounds of the birds. If he concentrated, he could almost identify him. In the distance were the sounds of the town: the buzz of talking and the noises of the shops opening for the day._ What a strange dream._ Al thought. _When I open my eyes I'll be back in Resembool. I can already smell Granny's cooking. Ed probably got up before me and is sitting at his desk studying right now. He gets so absorbed in his reading that he isn't aware of anything. Well, except Winry's wrench, that is. He _always _feels that._

Al was laughing to himself at the thought of how Winry could scare Ed more then many of the homunculi when he heard the distinctive sound a page flipping. He paused in his thoughts. _Wait. Ed?_ His mind began to sluggishly turn as he waited for another sound to confirm his thoughts as reality.

_Fwip_

Al's eyes jerked open and focused on the source of the noise. It had come from the direction of the window, and now that he looked he could see a shaped perched in the windowsill silhouetted by the light.

"Ed!"

The figure turned to face him at the sudden outburst and Al realized his initial impression was wrong. Ed's customary braid was instead a mass of spiky hair, and closer inspection revealed its color to be white, not blond.

The figure raised a hand in greeting.

"Yo."

Definitely not Ed. Memories came flooding back while the sudden movement shook loose the cobwebs clouding Al's brain. He was in a "ninja" village in what seemed to be another world. The person in the window would be one of the "ninjas" judging from the headband that dipped down to cover his left eye. A fleeting puzzlement about how the ninja survived without proper depth perception crossed his mind, but Al dismissed it as inconsequential. He'd figure it out eventually.

The white haired ninja hopped down from his perch while pocketing his book that had so badly mislead Al. He ambled his way over to the bed. "What's up?"

"Ummm…" Al looked around the room hesitantly. _He has his hands in his pockets, and nowhere near his weapons pouches. My best bet would be to head for the door. If he shows any sign of being a threat, I'll chuck my pillow at him and make a run for it._ Al knew it was a slim margin of a chance, but any plan was better than none. He'd been caught unaware too many times in the past and it wasn't about to happen again. Not even when the potential threat looked so… nonchalant. He hadn't even put his book away properly. Al could see it peeking out of the pouch ready to escape its confinement at any sudden movement. "Who are you?"

"Oh! Did I forget to introduce myself? Oops. Hatake Kakashi at your service. Your name is Alpha, right?"

Al winced. "Al_phonse_. You can just call me Al."

"Al. That's much easier." His mask covered his mouth making it difficult to judge his emotions, but the blond would have sworn that the ninja was smiling. His eye seemed to be twinkling.

"So, Kakashi. What do you want?" Al pushed himself into a sitting position shifting his sheets as he did so in order to make it easier to flee if the need arose.

"Huh? Oh, Lady Tsunade sent me to fetch you, and I was just enjoying my book as I waited. No use in rushing anywhere, right? It's a morning."

Al groaned. He was NOT up for another day of questioning. That was all it had been for the past three days. She wanted every single detail she could get out of him. The fact that he had completely made the bandits up on the spot didn't help, he had barely avoided some sticky situations with problems about the bandits' attire. He had accidentally said that they wore headbands, and then had to take it all back when he learned that only ninja wore them. He also had no idea what words to use for the clothing he had seen and so had given them the simplest outfits he could – normal pants and shirts with shoes similar to the kind that Naruto wore. Apparently "Lady Hokage" had been sending letters to every ally asking for information on these mysterious bandits. It wouldn't achieve anything. Al knew that they didn't exist anywhere except in his mind. He was beginning to wonder if it would have been better to tell the truth.

"Hello? _Hello?_" Kakashi was waving his hand in front of Al's face. "Good, I have your attention. Get dressed; I'll be waiting right outside." With that he turned around and hopped back out the window, disappearing in a flash. Al shook his head. What was with these people and not using doorways? Well, Ed hardly ever bothered either, but in Amestris he was the exception. Here, people like Ed were normal.

Alphonse pulled on the clothes that Sakura had brought for him – sandals, shorts, something that looked a little like a t-shirt, and a green vest covered in pockets. The vest was already heavy as Al pulled it on. He had wasted no time in filling the pockets with useful gadgets. He had also filched a kunai from one of the storerooms and sewn a new pocket for it on the inside of the vest. It wouldn't be handy in a sudden fight (its hiding spot would make it hard to get at) but it made Al feel better to know that he had some means of protecting himself. Naruto had also given Al a hoard of smoke and stink bombs to use. He'd actually begged Al to use one on Sakura, but Al's sense of self-preservation was still intact.

When Al was finished, he poked his head out the window. Kakashi was sitting on the roof calmly propped up against the wall reading his book. Again. _What could possibly be that interesting?_ _It doesn't look like research._ Al had to go out onto the roof and tap the ninja on the shoulder before he realized that Al was there.

"What? Oh, already? Alright then, off we go." With that, Kakashi got up and motioned for Al to follow him along the roof-top. Al sighed, _He really hates doors_.

However, after all the days of recovering, Al was up for a challenge. It took a few minutes to get used to the different architecture, but Al had run on roofs before. Soon, they reached the end of the hospital complex, climbed down a tree, and began a leisurely walk toward the main parts of town, once again on solid ground.

As they headed toward the Hokage's office, Al kicked the stones on the path in dejection. He knew it was childish, but he really was not up for another day of questioning. All the while, he remained unaware of Kakashi's appraising eye watching his every move.

* * *

Tsunade's office looked much the same as every time Alphonse had entered it – messy. The only difference was now there were more people. Alphonse noticed Naruto right away. In fact, it was safe to say that he'd heard him even before he entered the room. Naruto was blathering away at top volume. "And then I said, 'You're not so tough without your weapons, are you?' and he said, 'That's what you think.' And then _BAM_ he pulled this sword thing out of thin air, so I created this GIANT Rasengan and it was awesome. We charged at each other and just before we collided – HI AL!" Naruto began waving frantically.

Alphonse waved back pausing to get a better look at the others in the room. Beside Naruto, he also recognized Sakura, and Hinata. There was also a boy with a ponytail that Al didn't recognize slouching against the wall. And, of course, there was Tsunade, looking smug and self-satisfied as she rapped her newly painted fingers against the desk. How she could fight with long nails and high heels Al would never know. Actually, he didn't know how Izumi did it either. He just knew that heels hurt more then regular shoes when you were kicked by them. He'd been on the receiving end enough to be an expert.

"Here he is Tsunade-sama, just like you asked." Kakashi half-heartedly gestured at Al, and then walked over to join ponytail-boy in slouching by the wall.

"And what excuse, Kakashi, do you have for being late _this_ time?" Tsunade asked pointedly.

"Eh, I got lost."

Tsunade rolled her eyes. "Now that you're here… Al, this is Shikamaru, a Chunin. I believe you know everyone else." The ponytail-boy, Shikamaru, Al reminded himself, made a non-committal sound from his spot against the wall. He flicked his fingers in greeting. "The people you are looking at will be your new team. Well, minus Kakashi, he has a separate mission he has to attend to, but he will meet up with your team if he's able."

"Wait a second." Al was just a little bit confused, "My team? What's going on?"

"Oh, did I forget to mention it? Silly me." The smug look never left Tsunade's face making her seem more than a little pompous to Al. "The Lord Kazekage responded. He thinks he might have an idea about where to find these bandits of yours. If our luck holds out, we might even find your brother. These ninja are here to guide you to Suna, the Village Hidden in the Sand. The bandits you describe seem to be masters of blending in, so we will need you to positively identify them."

"Sweet! We get to go see Gaara! When did this happen?" Naruto was literally bouncing around in excitement.

"Moron!" Sakura reached over and smacked Naruto on the top of the head. "Didn't you pay attention to what was going on?"

"No… Nobody told me!"

"_I_ did you idiot. _FIVE TIMES_! What do you have in that brain of yours, air?"

"Really? I would've sworn you didn't. Oh well, there must have been more interesting things to pay attention to. I think we passed a ramen shop on the way here…"

"So ramen is more interesting than I am?" Sakura's eyebrow twitched dangerously.

"Well, it smells better…"

Sakura snapped. "SMELLS BETTER!!?? GET BACK HERE SO I CAN KNOCK SOME SENSE INTO THAT EMPTY HEAD OF YOURS!" With that, Sakura began to chase Naruto in circles around the room shooting off threats as she went. Naruto attempted to apologize while running for his life, and wound up digging his grave even deeper.

Al glanced around the room in bafflement. Hinata was attempting not to laugh and failing badly, Shikamaru gave his patented eye-roll, Kakashi moved his feet out of the path of the two maniacs, and a vein appeared on Tsunade's forehead. More veins popped.

"QUIET!!!!!!"

Naruto and Sakura skidded to a halt, Sakura with a firm grip on Naruto's hair. The room went silent.

"Ahem! Now that it's finally quiet, I can give my orders. You are all to meet at the front gate in exactly three hours. You know what to do. Sakura, make sure Al has everything he needs for the trip. Shikamaru is in charge. That is all, you're dismissed." Tsunade rubbed her forehead. "Now get out before I get a headache."

The group filed out in silence. Sakura gave Naruto one last punch and then grabbed Al, guiding him outside. Al went into a state of near-shock as Sakura began to list things he needed and the supplies he should pack.

_What have I gotten myself into?_


	8. Chapter 8

Thank you to everyone who has been reading! =] The amount of hits and reviews always amazes me and makes my day. I hope that everyone enjoys the new chapter, I enjoyed writing it. Now, on with the new chapter!

* * *

The half-filled pack taunted Al from its spot on the bed. Al glared at it. He knew it wasn't its fault for everything that had happened, but it was currently the object of his annoyance. Sakura had run off to find an extra med kit for Al along with basic ration packs and gear he would need for the road. Al was supposed to be packing his clothing and any other personal items he had. However, they were few and far between as he hadn't had the option to pack before arriving in this world. You-will-be-leaving-in-three-days-so-you-better-get-ready-soon was _not _how Truth functioned.

Al flopped down in the visitor's chair and awaited Sakura's return. After years of constant research, his mind refused to just stop and wait as easily as his body. It began creating countless scenarios, each less likely than the previous, that resulted in him being deemed a traitor. Or worse. He had no idea what they would do if he discovered he was an Alchemist. At the very least he would be considered a threat. He didn't know what would come after that…. Al forced his mind to happier subjects like the chemical properties of carbon.

_Graphite and diamond are both made of carbon, but one's a conductor and one an insulator. Graphite is a conductor because the pi bonds allow for the electrons to flow horizontally through its structure. The week bonds between the layers allow sheets of carbon to break away resulting in the residue left behind when we write with pencils, for example. Graphite is the most common and most stable form. The diamond is so hard because it is a covalent network solid and does not have pi bonds. Diamond has sp__3__ bonding while graphite has sp__2__. The potential energies are not much different, but the activation energy is high making the transmutation circle needed to transform graphite to diamond complicated and taxing to the alchemist. After that, there are amorphous carbons, hydrocarbons, and lonsdalelite structures. _Alphonse smiled to himself, closed his eyes, and leaned back in the visitor chair lost in thought.

Less than ten minutes later, Al heard voices approaching the door. Jumping to his feet, he tried to look productive. If it turned out that Al had accidentally forgotten to do something, Sakura would have his hide if she discovered him lazing about.

In curiosity, Al snuck a glance as Sakura walked in the door. At her side was an unfamiliar boy. Al continued feigning productiveness when his sense of sight caught up to his brain and told him that there was something unusual about the scene. Al glanced back. The only thing that Sakura was carrying was a flower and two med kits while the boy was carrying Sakura's entire traveling pack, two sets of food rations, cooking supplies, and miscellaneous other odds and ends. He entered and carefully set the supplies on the bed that was quickly beginning to resemble a table in Ed's study (a few less books, but just as messy).

The boy had black hair that looked like it had been self-cut in the bowl style. His eyebrows dominated his face, but his grin was a close second. He looked overjoyed at being able to help. _A little bit like a puppy_ Al mused.

"Anything else I can do for you Sakura-Chan? Anything at all? The power of youth is always ready to lend a hand!" The last part was declared loudly and accompanied by a brilliant smile that reminded Al of Major Armstrong on one of his family history rants.

"A vase for the flower you gave-"

"YES, MA'AM!" The boy flashed another grin with a thumbs-up sign and bolted out the door.

"-me would be nice." Sakura finished and than shook her head in disbelief. "He didn't even wait for me to stop talking. It's really annoying when people do that." She was now grumbling to herself as she played with the flower in her hands.

"Um, Sakura? Who was-?"

"Rock Lee. He's a ninja in my class. He's always had a bit of a crush on me." Sakura looked slightly full of herself when she said that and Al couldn't help but think of the way Roy bragged about how many dates he went on. Al hadn't realized she was so concerned with her appearance.

_She said it was annoying when people interrupt but she didn't let me finish either. Hypocrite._ Al laughed to himself. He wasn't going to call her on it, he didn't have a death wish, but the irony was always entertaining as a private joke.

In a blur of green, Rock Lee skidded back into the room, vase in hand. The water slopped around inside its glass container, but not a drop was spilled. "I found it!" He declared brightly, sounding as if he had accomplished a great mission. Bowl-head took the flower from Sakura, placed it in the vase, and handed it back with a flourish. "A pretty lady deserves such a pretty flower."

That part of the room must have been warm, because Sakura looked slightly flushed. "Why, thank you Lee. It was such a … kind… thought." Lee beamed, looking like he had his own personal sun. "However, you _do_ know that I will be leaving for a mission in just over an hour and won't be able to take this with me, right?"

Lee promptly fell over dramatically. From the floor, he looked up at Sakura with wide eyes (wider than they had already been). "I can't do anything right…."

"Umm…" Sakura seemed to be looking for a way to avoid the pleading glance. "Nonsense, you're a good ninja."

"REALLY!? You think so? Oh, wow, that's GREAT! I have always dreamed of hearing you say that!" Lee sprang to his feet, suddenly full of energy. "Wait until I tell Guy-Sensei. He will be so proud…. This is the happiest day of my life! I'm a GOOD NINJA!" Lee was standing in a dramatic pose, staring up into ceiling, with tears streaming down his cheeks.

Sakura had ignored the entire rant. She continued to pack the bags without looking fazed in the slightest. Al looked at her inquiringly, "Does he do this often?"

"Yep. Just ignore him. That's what we all do." She shoved the last item into the pack. "There. You're all ready. I just need to run a few last minute errands and I'll be ready too. Now where did I leave that report I need to deliver?"

The Konoha gate loomed over the surrounding structures. It's shadow threw the pebbled ground into stark relief and cast the guard-house into shadow. The letters carved into the wooden archway announced the name of this ninja village for any potential customers.

Sakura and Al were walking toward that shadow. The other ninjas were all there, waiting. There was no one else, and nothing else waiting for them. Al looked around. "Hey, Sakura, where's the car?"

"Car? What's that?"

Al stuttered, looking for the proper words. That had been a stupid question, and he knew it. In all the time he had been here, he had never seen a vehicle. He had assumed that it was just because he hadn't been out much, but this was a different world after all.

"Oh, it's nothing. Anyway, when will we get to the train station?"

Sakura looked at him blankly. "What are you _talking_ about?"

_Crud._

Al fidgeted, shifting his weight from one foot to another. His questions had caused them to stop – hopefully just out of earshot of the other ninjas waiting at the gate. Sakura already seemed to trust him. He didn't want to risk the others hearing and becoming suspicious. One interrogation session with Tsunade was more than enough.

"Never mind, I'm just spewing random nonsense." Al gave her his most innocent grin. "I was just seeing what type of reaction I could get out of you."

"Uh-huh." Sakura did not look convinced.

"Anyway, my real question was: how do we get to Suna?"

"We walk." Her flat tone told Al that this was, of course, the only option.

"Oh. And how far is Suna?"

"A few days, more if we take it slowly. It's not a bad trip. We'll even have ninja from the Village Hidden in the Sand meet us at the desert to escort us." Sakura smiled and began walking toward the gate again. "You should know, you said you came from the Wind Country."

The boy nodded in answer to her question and followed her toward the gate. The weight of the pack was a constant reminder of the trip to come. Al had never had a problem with a little walking; he'd done it plenty of times when he and Ed were searching for the Philosopher's Stone. _Actually, at that time I was a suit of armor that would never get tired. It was Ed that always complained about the walking. I guess the roles are now reversed. I'm the spoiled Amestrisian who's used to riding trains, and I have to travel with a bunch of ninja that see nothing wrong with running or walking for days at a time. Hopefully Naruto isn't as hyperactive as he usually is. There would be no way I could keep up._

No such luck.

"Al! Al! Al! Hey! Al!" Naruto was waving ballistically looking more energetic than Ed on a sugar rush. "Over here! I can't wait! This will be so much fun, you're gonna _love _Suna. I'll even introduce you to Gaara!"

"Naruto. Shut. _UP._" Pony-tail looked exasperated. "This is a _mission_ not a pleasure trip. Grow up and start acting like a ninja."

Naruto pouted but Al could tell he wasn't really offended. He seemed to be used to it.

"Ok team, everyone here?" Shikamaru did a quick head count. "Good. Now, this is not a dangerous mission at this stage. We simply have to get to Suna, but we have a person to escort so _take it easy_." The last part was delivered while staring straight at Naruto. "Just in case, Hinata, I want you to act as our lookout, and Naruto, you will be in charge of periodically sending out shadow clones to look for trails or enemies. Clear?"

The group nodded their acceptance. The stiff attitude of the ninjas (except Naruto) seemed reminiscent of the Amestrisian military. A twinge of homesickness made its presence known. Hopefully they were all doing well.

"Alright!" Naruto put his hands together in a way that reminded Al of a transmutation because of the purposeful feel of the motion. The difference was that instead of merely clapping, he formed a weird cross shape with his first two fingers. "Shadow Clone Jutsu!" A poof of smoke surrounded Naruto as though someone had let off a smoke-bomb. When it faded, there were two Narutos standing where there previously had only been one.

A startled yelp followed by a thump drew the ninjas' attention. For the umpteenth time since becoming a human, Al had fallen over. He was seated on the ground with wide eyes staring at Naruto. He'd heard Naruto bragging about his "ninjutsus," but he had never seen them. The only ninja art he had seen was the medical kind, and that was more akin to the Purification Arts of Zing and simple energy manipulation than…this. Naruto had just made _something_ out of _nothing_. That was something only the Philosophers Stone could do. Al couldn't believe that naïve, hyperactive Naruto would knowingly sacrifice human lives to provide the necessary energy.

"Al, you ok?" One of the Narutos approached Al. "Did you fall? Let me help you up." It reached down and grabbed his hand yanking him to his feet. The other clone came over and patted him on the back. "You heard what Shikamaru said, take it easy. We don't want you to hurt yourself."

They were solid. No, they were _both_ solid.

Al shrugged off the hand and shied away as though his friend's hand were made of slime or some other disgusting substance. "Yeah, I'm fine. Aren't we supposed to be leaving?"

A few strange looks were cast his way, but Shikamaru signaled and the group began walking. Naruto began chatting away.

_I need to learn how those "jutsus" work so I can defend against them. I don't want to end up hurt from a situation where I should have known better. Sakura can probably explain. Hopefully she has a better explanation for the doppelganger that Naruto made than a Philosophers Stone._ Al shuddered._ I don't want to find one of those here. We have enough problems in my world._

Al looked at the ninjas surrounding him and the oversized scenery surrounding the path – everything was so foreign and unfamiliar. He gently clapped his hands in front of him as he walked focusing on the runes and the energy flow. The blond relaxed. _If everything else fails, at least I have my Alchemy. _


	9. Chapter 9

**Thank you everyone! Also, many thanks to and the other Naruto websites. Without them, I would be lost.**  
**Now, back to the story. =]**

* * *

Al had never been one to complain, but now, after three days of traveling, he could feel that desire to vocalize every grievance taking hold. Every muscle in his body ached and, if he didn't know it was impossible from anatomy books, he would swear that the bones themselves hurt, too. He was miserable.

As they had traveled the past three days, the trees had begun to shrink and the distance between them increased. Now, the last rays of evening light were able to filter down to the forest floor. The light breeze shifted the leaves causing the patterns decorating the ground to dance. Evening birdsong echoed through the treetops. As the forest had begun to thin out and more light slipped though, the birds took up residence. The light allowed the berry filled plants to grow, and where there is food, there is life.

With this pleasant backdrop, Al would normally have been content to walk for days if he had to. This wasn't normally. Years without exercise or enough nutrients didn't go away in less than a month – at least not fully.

Mercifully, Shikamaru called for a halt and to set up camp for the night. Al felt like simply plopping down in the clearing and going to sleep, but forced himself to put his pack down by the others. Next to him, Naruto dropped his pack and two sleeping bags. The extra sleeping bag was Al's. Halfway through the first day on the road, Sakura had taken Al's sleeping bag from him and given it to Naruto to carry. She claimed it was because Naruto was annoying her and making him carry more weight _might_ make him more likely to shut up.

Al didn't believe that.

He believed the part about Naruto annoying her – when _wasn't _that the case – but he had a feeling that she had noticed his exhaustion and was trying to help him without running the risk of hurting his pride. Al appreciated the gesture.

His back cracked as he stretched. Al had tried to help set up camp yesterday, but he had just gotten in the way. Today, he just sat down under a tree and watched. With the help of Naruto's shadow clones, everything was set up and even the fire wood was quickly gathered. This wasn't a stealth mission, so they were taking none of the usual precautions to avoid being noticed.

Al leaned back to watch the shimmering light play through the leaves. The shifting light was mesmerizing. It was so… bright…. The next thing he was aware of was Naruto's face beaming down at him.

"Boy, you were sleeping good! Hungry?" He held out a bowl filled with rice and a pair of the wooden torture instruments. Grudgingly, Al took it from him. "Sakura told me not to wake you, but I didn't think you'd want to miss a meal. I never do." Naruto sat down next to Al and leaned against the tree. "I like food. Go on, eat! The chopsticks won't bite you! I already ate everything Shikamaru would give me. He told me to bug off, can you believe that? He was really rude and looked annoyed for some reason." Naruto paused and they sat in silences for a few moments while he sulked. He shrugged. "Oh well. Are you going to eat that? If not, I will."

"What? Oh, yeah. I'm eating, see." Al attempted to take a bite. 'Attempted' being the key word. The torture instruments played their part and maliciously managed to dump half of their load onto Al's lap. Naruto failed to stifle a laugh and Al decided to change the subject.

"Hey, Naruto. What's Hinata doing over there?" Al gestured toward where Hinata appeared to be looking out into the night. She seemed to be intent on something, but with dusk falling, Al was sure whatever she was looking for would be invisible.

"She's scanning to woods to make sure there's nothing dangerous out there." Naruto used his fingers to steal a bit of rice, chewed, swallowed, and then added, "It's part of her job as a look-out."

"But how can she see anything? It's getting dark. Shouldn't she actually be patrolling instead?"

"She's using Chakra." Naruto said this as though it was the most obvious fact he could imagine. "If you want to know how it actually works, you'll have to talk to Sakura. I don't get all of that stuff, I just use it. You know, make the hand signals, concentrate, and POOF – new jutsu. Well, it's more than that, but that's the basic idea."

"Could I do what she's doing?" Al was curious. Alchemy was a wonderful secret weapon, but if he could actually understand the ninja arts, or jutsus as Naruto called them, he would be able to better protect himself.

Naruto choked on his mouthful of rice, he was now freely helping himself to Al's food. "What? You mean, can you use Byakugan? No way, that's impossible." Naruto noticed Al's confused look. "Byakugan is a bloodline trait, a Kekkei Genkai. Only Hinata's family can use it. It lets her see people's chakra and in almost every direction at once. Even if her back is turned, she can see me. Watch." Naruto stood up and began frantically waving in Hinata's direction.

Hinata stiffened and then turned ever so slightly in their direction. Her eyes were pure white and the veins stood out in stark contrast in the glow of the campfire. Her face seemed redder than usual, but Al assumed it must be from the strain of using this… bloodline trait. He'd seen similar exhaustion in Sakura after she used her healing jutsus too much. She gave a small wave, only using a few fingers, really, and then turned back to look at the forest.

Naruto sat back down. "See, every direction. Amazing, isn't it."

"Yes it is." _Truly amazing. If I would have had something like that, there would be no way for the Homunculi to sneak up on me and Ed. We would've been out of this mess long ago._ "Say, Naruto, I know you said I can't lean to use the … Byaku-thingy… but is there something I _could_ learn?

"Yeah! That would be awesome! I didn't know you were interested. What do you want to learn? There are clones, fire, illusion and replacement jutsus, even the Rasengan. Although, have you ever used Chakra before? No? Maybe you should start with something simple. Sakura's good at chakra control stuff. Hey, SAKURA! CAN YOU COME OVER HERE A MINUTE? HEY! SAKURA! PLEASE? HEY, SAK –"

"SHUT _UP!_ I heard you the first time." Sakura marched toward their tree. "You're giving me a headache. What do you want? If you are just too lazy to get yourself more food I swear I'll punch you so hard you'll feel it for a month." She stopped in front of them, arms folded. She glared down.

Naruto was unfazed. "Could you teach Al chakra control and some simple jutsus?"

Sakura raised an eyebrow and turned to Al. "Do you actually want to learn or is this just one of Naruto's hair-brained ideas? You don't always have to go along with them."

Al nodded. "This was actually my idea. I would really appreciate it if you would teach me. Naruto says you are really good at chakra control. Much better than he is."

"I am." Sakura raised an eyebrow at Naruto as if she didn't believe the possibility of him actually praising her and then stared at Al for a second. "I ... suppose it wouldn't hurt…. Why not? We have some time before we need to turn in. Come over by the fire and we'll all try to help you."

She led them into the direct firelight to join Shikamaru. Hinata joined them a few moments later having finished her scan and determining that nothing hostile lurked in the area.

"Chakra comes from two places: the energy in your body, and mental energy. You get the second from practice. Chakra circulates throughout your body passing through all of your vital spots. You're lucky you have Hinata here. She will be able to actually look at your chakra flow and tell you what you're doing right or wrong." Sakura smiled at Hinata who nodded and then looked back at her clasped hands.

"In order to control the chakra, we use hand seals. This is an example." Sakura placed her palms together with the left lying flat on top of the right and thumbs on the outside. "This seal is the Monkey. There are 11 others. Depending on the combination of seals used and the amount of chakra, you get different jutsus." She demonstrated each of the 12 seals and Al's head began to spin. If she decided to test his comprehension, he would fail horribly.

However, despite the chaos from the rapid influx of information, it made a type of sense. In alchemy, Al used circles and runes to direct the energy. This was the same. If he could learn alchemy from old books, surly he could learn a simple jutsu from an experienced ninja. This time he would actually be able to ask a question and receive an answer rather than having to look it up on his own. If the laws of alchemy were still valid, gathering his chakra would be much like creating the circle and runes in his head before a clapping transmutation.

"So, how do I actually gather the chakra?"

"It's… more of a feeling." Sakura hesitated unsure of how to answer. "Shikamaru, you're the professor, you explain."

"No way. That's too much effort. Teaching is such a drag…" Lackadaisically, he poked the fire sending sparks spinning into the night sky.

"Shikamaru…" Her tone of voice brought to mind images of horrid fates that might befall the person who displeased her.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. Alright. No need to get huffy. Ok, here's what you do, Al." Shikamaru talked more or less for the next ten minutes. Every so often, Sakura would clear her throat to "invite" Shikamaru to continue with his lesson. Finally, he paused and Sakura let him be. Shikamaru sighed in relief. "Got it?"

"Possibly. How will I know?" Al knew that although the theory sounded reasonable enough, putting it into practice would bring about unforeseen complications.

Sakura smiled. "That's where I come in. We're going to have you try a jutsu and Hinata will watch to see what happens. Then we will be able to see your progress."

"We'll start with a simple transformation jutsu. You will be using the ram hand seal. Remember that one?" The lilt in Sakura's voice and her smile let Al know she was joking. There was no way she actually expected Al to remember one of the twelve hand seals she had showed him in rapid succession. Al took a stab at it anyway and formed his hands into a random shape. Naruto's snorting laughter let him know he had it wrong.

"Almost." Sakura chuckled. "Actually, not even close, but good try anyway." Sakura reached forward and moved his hands so they made the correct shape. "See. These two fingers point up, along with the index finger on your other hand. Perfect." Sakura stepped back.

"Now, concentrate your chakra how Shikamaru told you. Hinata, could you use Byakugan now? Thanks." Sakura took another step back as though she expected something to blow up. The veins around Hinata's eyes stood out.

Al took a deep breath and closed his eyes. _Just like Alchemy. Concentrate, block out all background distractions. Feel the energy and let it flow. Let it build. Imagine what I want, who I want to look like. See every detail of Ed's face. Let the energy make it a reality. _Al could feel the energy building, could imagine every detail. He could feel it almost overflowing. Then it burst.

Nothing happened.

Opening his eyes he looked at himself. He was Alphonse. The jutsu hadn't worked.

Alphonse let his hands drop, breaking the hand seal.

"What's the matter Al? Aren't you going to try?" Naruto looked concerned.

"I _did_."

"Ohhhhhhhhh." The light-bulb switched on. "That happened to me the first time, too. Don't worry about it, you'll get it eventually." Naruto was attempting to be encouraging. "Anyway, tell me about it. Did you feel anything? Aren't the ninja techniques neat?"

Al mumbled a random response. He had a different issue to worry about. _I never bothered to test my alchemy; I always just assumed it would work. I mean, it worked once so why wouldn't it work again? That… jutsu… felt like Alchemy except it just… failed. Why? Is this place that much different than Amestris? Did something happen? If my alchemy doesn't work, I'm dead. I can't protect myself without it. I need to find out. Soon._

Caught up in his reflection, Al missed the look that passed between a slightly wide-eyed Hinata and the pink haired kunoichi.

"Well, that was anti-climatic." Shikamaru spoke up for the first time since he had been given a respite from teaching. "Since it didn't work, why don't we all go to bed? That's what I'm doing." He yawned, turned away from the group, and walked over to his sleeping bag.

"That sounds good to me too." Sakura turned towards Al a bright smile plastered on her face. "You must be tired. You can practice more later, alright? We'll keep watch so you'll be safe. I'll even take the first shift." She glanced at Hinata again. Al simply nodded his mind too full of worries to gather the details of his surroundings.

Naruto snuggled into his sleeping bag his head adorned with his frog cap. The camp fell into silence and Al drifted off unaware of the intensity of the gaze that watched over the camp and him.


	10. Chapter 10

**Hello! Just one quick thing before continuing the story: congratulations to Arakawa. The last chapter of Fullmetal Alchemist is done and it was amazing, simply amazing. An incredible series. Anyone who hasn't read it should, it will be well worth your time. **

**Thank you for reading my humble fan fiction. Any and all comments (compliments or criticism) are welcomed and treasured. **

* * *

A slight tap on her shoulder brought Sakura out of the inky blackness of sleep that had not yet given way to dream, and into the waking world. She shook off the haze quickly. Long years of practice as a ninja had given her the ability to awaken in a state of alertness. With enemies around, you couldn't expect to be given time in order to calmly brush the sleep out of your eyes, yawn a few times, stretch, and reminisce on your dream. You would die. Plain and simple.

Sakura opened her eyes. Hinata was crouching with one finger pressed to her lips. Sakura didn't even need the motion for silence; she'd caught her glance earlier.

Hinata stood, walked over to Shikamaru, and tapped him awake as well. She motioned for them both to follow her and then headed into the forest. Sakura took one last look at the campsite before she entered the shadows of the forest. The campfire had died down long ago, but the embers still glowed casting a warm light. Al was sleeping peacefully and Naruto was right beside him looking like a child in his frog cap.

Sakura shook her head in disbelief and then turned away from the campsite. She knew why Hinata hadn't woken Naruto. As powerful as he could be, he was still a dunce and a blockhead. It was _possible_ he could have woken without talking, but not likely. It was better not even to risk the possibility.

Sakura's shift had passed uneventfully. She could have called the meeting herself, but it was too soon. Al had an annoying habit of being a light sleeper and she didn't want to risk him waking up and finding them gone. He was smart, and the last thing they wanted was to make him nervous. So, she'd passed the watch on to Hinata and let her decide when the time was right. Apparently, that time was now.

Night closed in around them as they passed among the trees that rose out of the ground like pillars from some lost society. Moonlight brightened their path, but deepened the shadows lending cover to potential enemies. The trio stopped once they were well out of earshot.

"Well. What's going on?" Shikamaru folded his arms and let his gaze settle on Hinata who fidgeted. "It's the middle of the night."

"I…I…I know. I'm sorry. Really. It's just…I mean…" Hinata took a deep breath to steady herself and forced her hands to stop fidgeting. "What I mean to say is, I noticed something odd and thought you'd want to know about it."

_There you go, girl. Don't apologize._ Sakura met Hinata's eyes straight on. "This has to do with Al, doesn't it. What's going on?" Sakura had come to like the quiet, blond boy over the past couple of weeks, but she wasn't weak enough to let her emotions get in the way of her better judgment. Not anymore.

"Yes, it does." Hinata took another deep breath. "I was watching his chakra lines just as you'd told me. I actually thought it was a good idea; that I might be able to help him. After all he's been through, he deserves to be able to protect himself." Sakura understood that sentiment. Al was the type of person who was hard to dislike. He'd had most of the hospital staff at his beck and call. His even temperament had made him a model patient, and they'd all thought it was so cute how he got so excited over the smallest of details. For something as simple as a little bit of extra desert or a new type of food, they would be treated to a smile of pure joy. That smile hadn't been around as much recently.

"I noticed something was off right away. A normal citizen's chakra lines don't look like his. He had no problem with the energy flow portion of the jutsu. He seemed like he was… used to chakra control." Hinata sounded hesitant.

"Wait. Are you saying he's a _ninja_?" Shikamaru sounded skeptical, but his voice had a biting quality hidden beneath the layers of disbelief. If Al _were _a ninja, chances were it wasn't for a good reason.

"No! Wait. That's not what I meant." Hinata panicked. "I don't think he's an enemy or anything. His chakra lines looked well used, but not in the way a ninja's would. When I watched him gather chakra for the jutsu he wasn't so much drawing it from his body, as from his surroundings." Neither of the other ninjas responded choosing instead to hear Hinata's explanation. Hinata looked back in bewilderment. "Don't… don't ask me how he was doing it. I know that's not normal. It might not have even been chakra at all. As far as I know, it wasn't a ninja technique."

Shikamaru sighed, slouched, and began massaging his forehead. "So, what you're telling us is that we are now supposed to be escorting a person who is not a ninja but still some sort of chakra user? You have no idea what this technique is, either? Jeez, what a drag…" Shikamaru worsened his already terrible posture. Sakura was sure that if he just stood straight, for once, he would appear to grow at least two or three inches. All of that slouching could NOT be good for his back.

"So, what to do…. Hinata, you seem pretty keen to defend him. Do you have any proof that he isn't here as a spy or for some other similar purpose?"

"Well…um…." Hinata stuttered for a few seconds wracking her brain to come up with a suitable defense. Finally, she hung her head. "No. I just don't … _feel_… like he's bad. Maybe Sakura…?" She turned a hopeful gaze on her fellow kunoichi.

"I was his doctor for the entire time he was here and he never did anything bad other than pushing himself before he was ready." Sakura thought for a minute. "He never did anything to condemn himself, but there is no way of proving he's innocent. There're just too many mysteries and no fact to back up his claims. If we find this group he claims kidnapped him, that would be a different story. As it stands now, however, we have no choice but to be on alert." Sakura felt bad, but it was better to be safe than sorry. However cliché that phrase was, it was still true. There had been too many strange reactions and Al had said too many strange things to simply ignore.

Actually, speaking of strange things…

"Do any of you know what a 'car' or a 'train station' is? Al mentioned them right before we met up with you. He told me it was a joke, but looking back…." The inquiry was met with a matching pair of strange looks. "Never mind. You don't even need to respond to that. Judging by your expressions, I'd say you don't either."

Looking back, that was only one of them. His reaction when he had been shown the map had been downright peculiar. Something was going on, but she couldn't quite put her finger on it.

Shaking his head, Shikamaru calmly stretched and straightened up. "Was that everything you wanted to talk about, Hinata, or was there more?"

Mutely, Hinata shook her head.

"Well, then. I say we all head back to camp and catch some sleep. There's nothing we can do right now. We have no proof to accuse him with and no justification for doing so. Lady Tsunade told us to escort him to Suna, and so we will. Keep a close watch on him and be on the alert for anything strange. If anything comes up, we can let the Kazekage deal with it. Only if we seem to be in danger will we do anything. Got it?"

"Of course." As Shikamaru turned to begin the trek back to his cozy sleeping bag, a thought jumped unbidden into Sakura's mind. "Actually. One more thing."

Shikamaru turned, his body language practically shouting its protest at the prospect of sleep being delayed any longer by trivial concerns. "Yeah?"

"What do we do about Naruto?"

"Oh, him."

Yes, _him_. The same Naruto that was blissfully snoozing away back at camp completely and totally unaware that anything was wrong with his newfound friend. Sakura practically wanted to scream at Shikamaru's lack of motivation. Why had she gotten the laziest of all team leaders? What had she done to deserve this?

"We don't tell him." Shikamaru's answer was blunt and to the point. "Naruto can't keep secrets and even if he could, he's a terrible actor. If we tell him, I can guarantee that Al will know of our suspicion within the day. After that, we won't learn anything. So, we don't tell him. Is that all?" His inquiry was met with silence. "Alright, good night both of you." With that Shikamaru turned and disappeared among the trees this time unhindered by questions.

Pleading eyes met Sakura's. "Do we really have to keep this a secret from Naruto?"

"Hinata, I would usually be all for telling him, but this time Shikamaru's right. Everything shows on Naruto's face. He'd be the worst spy imaginable. Besides, he would be crushed to think that there were any suspicions about his new friend. He and Al seem to be getting along very well. Why don't we just let them stay friends." Sakura smiled slightly. "Come on, I'll walk back with you."

Disappointed, Hinata fell into step beside Sakura and their two shadows blended with the forest's own.

* * *

Dawn arrived quickly at the campsite.

"GOOD MORNING!"

"Urgg…" Al muttered something unintelligible and didn't even have to open his eyes to know what he would see: a smiling blond with whiskers and a frog cap beaming down at him. It was quickly becoming a predictable, if annoying, routine. "Mornin' to you, too, Naruto." Al sat up and opened his eyes. "What time is it?"

"Eh? No clue!" Naruto proclaimed as if he were proud of his lack of knowledge. "All I know is it's early. Shikamaru wanted us to start early today so we can reach the desert sooner. HE says it's because he doesn't want to arrive late, but I think he's just eager to see- OW!" Naruto clutched the back of his head where Sakura had hit him.

"Quit your yapping and get to work. I am NOT doing all of this by myself." Sakura stormed away leaving a wounded Naruto lying face-down on the ground. She paused after a few steps and shouted over her shoulder. "And quit acting like a baby. That didn't hurt and you know it!"

Naruto pulled himself up; the new lump on the back of his head clearly visible. Al winced in sympathy. Sakura was wrong. Anything that left a mark like that HAD to hurt. He'd seen Ed enough after getting beaten up by Winry. Compared to that, Naruto was uninjured, but Winry had the bad habit of leaving Ed on the verge of death. He wouldn't wish that on anyone.

Al laughed at the pathetic expression on Naruto's face – he looked like a kicked puppy – and helped Naruto to his feet. "Sorry about that. I think Sakura's just in a foul mood this morning. She probably had a bad dream or something. Come on, I'll help you out. That way Sakura won't yell at us." Instantly Naruto's face went from one of despair to joy.

"Thanks!" He grinned and was soon talking nonstop once again and running about with his usual energy. It didn't take much to cheer him up.

It was hard for Al to believe that it was already morning. He had planned to suddenly "wake up" in the middle of the night and leave the camp to "go to the bathroom." That would have given him the much needed chance to practice his alchemy and some time away from the watchful eyes of the ninjas. Unfortunately, once you're _actually _asleep it is very hard to wake up on purpose and _feigning_ sleep tends to actually put you to sleep if you're tired. Al had been tired. From what he remembered, he must have fallen asleep some time during Sakura's watch. He'd been planning on waiting until Naruto's shift but it hadn't worked.

Oh well. There would be other chances. If there was one thing Al had learned, it was how to be patient. He still had a few days before they reached Suna.


	11. Chapter 11

**Thank you to all of my readers. Enjoy the chapter! As always, reviews are gold. =] Now, on with the story.**

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There was. No. Time.

No matter what Al did, he was never left alone. During the day, all they did was walk. At night, it was set up the camp and go to sleep. Every time he promised himself he would wake up and sneak off, he didn't. This whole 'sleeping' thing was becoming a hassle. Well, the dreams were nice, but they took up valuable time he needed to practice his alchemy. He hadn't had a moment to himself in _four _days! Now, Shikamaru had just announced that they were LESS THAN A MILE from the meeting point. After that, he'd have yet _another_ ninja to deal with.

To say that he was edgy was an understatement. It felt like his soul was five different entities; each attempting to go a different direction, each jumping at the slightest noise, each wanting to simply _go home,_ but having no idea how to do so. All the while, his body was having to battle to appear calm, relaxed, and to keep his true emotions from showing on his now expressive face. He'd _never_ had a poker face before except when it was made out of metal, so how was he _possibly _supposed to fool 'ninjas' who were trained to read every inadvertent twitch! Arggg!

Al shook his head rapidly to clear his mind. Thoughts like that would just make it harder. All he needed was a few minutes to calm down, relax, test his alchemy, and be away from people watching and analyzing his every move! How was he supposed to-!

Bad thought.

Al shook his head again and took a couple of deep breaths. Getting angry was self destructive. When Ed got angry, he usually blew their cover and gained a few more enemies in the process. That was the last thing Al wanted right now.

Thinking of Ed did the trick. Ed was probably worried about him, possibly even thinking him dead. He had to get back at all costs. He'd thought Ed was dead once, and didn't want his brother to go through that sort of pain. At least not if he could help it.

Al smiled sadly to himself. _I wonder if brother's eating enough? Now that our bodies aren't connected anymore, he shouldn't have to eat so much, but still. Please let him not do anything stupid._

"Hey, Al. Are you okay?" A concerned Naruto was walking beside him. "You were shaking your head. Do you have a headache or something? Feeling ill?"

"No. I'm fine." A thought occurred. "Actually, could we stop for a minute? I think I need a break."

"Really? But the meeting point's just over that hill there. Surely you can make it that far. It's just another minute or two and then we can stop for the night."

"Oh. That close? That came up fast." _Great. Now I'll have another prison guard to watch out for. _"I guess I can make that."

At the top of the hill, Al looked down on their supposed meeting spot. Not a soul in sight. The meeting spot was as empty as every other place they'd passed recently. Unbidden, his gaze moved upward.

So this was the desert they had to cross.

As far as the eye could see, hills of sand spread to the horizon. Interspersed among the rolling dunes, the occasional plant broke the monochrome brown and splashed its own mark upon the landscape. The sun was hovering just above the horizon, and its glow outlined the dunes in sharp contrast. Deep shadows emphasized every undulation making slopes appear twice as steep, and the desert foreboding.

Naruto's snickering broke the spell of the sand. "Hey, Shikamaru. We're here first!" He gave a full-out laugh. "_Some_one's _la_te!" He proclaimed in a sing-song voice.

"Yeah." Said a women's voice from behind them. "YOU ARE!"

"AAAAHHGGG!" Naruto pinwheeled and fell flat on his face almost bringing Al down with him. By some miracle, Al avoided the flailing arms and spun around to face the voice's source.

The woman was actually more of a girl. She appeared to be around the same age as the rest of the ninjas in the group and was looking at Naruto with bemused curiosity. Her blond hair shot out in four ponytails behind her head, each in a different direction, as if it was attempting to emulate a square. She was wearing a black dress…kimono… thing… with a red waistband that had to be _way_ to warm to be practical in the desert. Perhaps that was why she was carrying what appeared to be a giant fan.

Al relaxed his guard as he took a good look at the rest of his group; none of whom appeared to be alarmed. Apparently, this was their guide.

Now that Al thought about it, it made sense that she was from another village. Instead of the spiky spiral emblem on his groups' headbands, hers appeared to depict a lower case 'I,' or perhaps some type of pillar. Supposedly, according to Naruto, the spiky spiral was supposed to be a leaf, but it looked like no leaf Al had ever seen. Actually, he'd thought it was a snail. If that type of logic carried through with all headbands, he'd never be able to guess what the pillar was supposed to be.

Sputtering, Naruto sat up. "H-hey Temari. Long time no see, huh." He scratched the back of his head, a personality quirk that Al had long ago interpreted as a nervous twitch. Apparently this girl was as scary as Sakura. "Where'd _you_ come from?"

Before fan girl had a chance to respond, Sakura gave her own answer. "Well, it was obvious by your reaction, but really. You seriously didn't notice Temari walking behind you for the last MINUTE! What type of ninja are you? It's no wonder you're still a Genin. Jeez. You're an imbecile."

Suffice to say, Naruto was slightly put out.

"Hey there!" Temari walked over to Al and grinned. Well, it actually had a slightly smirking feel to it, but Al appreciated that she was at least trying to be friendly. "So, you're the one we're supposed to be escorting. Name's Temari, I'll be your guide from here on out."

She turned away, her brisk footsteps kicking up puffs of sand, and walked to the front of the group to stand by Shikamaru. She turned to face the rest of the squad. "Naruto! Don't go putting those packs down yet. You're all late, so we're going to keep walking. Let's go."

"Wait a second Temari." Sakura looked slightly frazzled. _Apparently she's used to being the scariest girl around_. _Her intimidation factor just took a dive_. "Al's still recovering. He needs time to rest. He-"

"-seems perfectly fine to me." Temari interrupted. "A little light walking never hurt anyone. _I'm_ the guide. What I say goes." Without another word, she turned and began walking into the desert. Shikamaru cast an apologetic glance back at the rest of the group, shrugged as if to say 'I can't do anything about it,' and then fell into step beside Temari.

"Traitor." Sakura grumbled. "Why do we even _need_ a guide? I've been to Suna plenty of times. It's not like it's hard to find. And _of course_, he has to take _her_ side. Look. Now they're talking away. Stupid, blond, power hungry…" Sakura continued to grumble as she stomped ahead, the displaced sand forming angry mushroom clouds behind her.

Hinata trailed behind Sakura at a safe distance to avoid the ominous aura being emitted, and Al was left to walk with Naruto once again. The blond ninja was, not so quietly it might be added, bemoaning their fate. Apparently, the lack of dinner was a grievous sin; an unforgivable transgression. Al was left to his own thoughts.

_Well, I suppose traveling by night would be the smart thing to do in a desert…. When brother and I traveled to Leor, he was constantly complaining about the heat. Still, I wish I could have had _some_ sort of a break. There's no place to practice alchemy in the desert. They'd see the light of a transmutation no matter how far I go. Perfect…. On a positive note, at least this time I'm not hollow so I won't sink. It should be interesting at least._

* * *

Interesting was an understatement. Sinking turned out to be the least of Al's problems.

First of all, walking on sand was _hard_. Not only was it physically exhausting, it was literally hard to keep your footing. In just the two days they had been crossing the desert, Al had fallen more times than his pride would allow him to admit. The heat was a factor that hadn't been present the last time he had made a desert crossing, and it was proving more of a challenge to acclimate himself than he had expected.

But, if there was one thing worse than the heat, it was trying to sleep in it. Sleeping under shelter or inside a tent to keep off the sun was the only smart thing to do, but it turned into a sauna. No matter how tired he was, he found it impossible to sleep in such conditions.

And so it was, in the early morning of the second day in the desert, (they had been walking all night) a very sleep deprived Alphonse got his first glimpse of Suna.

Towering stone walls rose out of the desert. Rather, it looked like a natural cliff, perhaps a plateau of some sort, made out of sandstone. On close examination, there appeared to be some sort of a vertical slit in it as though some giant had sliced it with a knife. That would probably be the entrance into the city itself. There were many different words to describe the sight: huge, imposing, and fortress, at the forefront of the list. The one thing it wasn't was 'hidden.'

_What is it with ninjas and being hypocritical? Their names make no sense. The Village 'Hidden' in the Sand should be changed to The Village '_Surrounded_' by Sand. Names at home are better. At least 'Central' City is actually in the 'center' of Amestris._

As they drew closer, black dots on the cliff face grew larger and became recognizable as people. Whereas Konoha had had perhaps three guards stationed at the gate, there were easily twenty guarding Suna. All of their manpower went toward guarding the one, singular entrance. Al doubted they even had many other guards stationed around the rest of the perimeter. All he would have to do would be to create a simple tunnel through the wall and he was free. This village had obviously never gone against a trained alchemist before.

At the gate, they were waved through without a second glance. The guards recognized Temari, knew of her mission, and let her pass. Actually, many of the others were also greeted by name. The lack of protocol made Al twitch. Even he knew about transformation jutsus. If they were so easy for ninjas, why didn't the guards at least ask for a password to confirm their identity? Al sighed and let it go. It wasn't his problem. Call it paranoia, but he'd just had too much experience with shape-shifters to ever rest easy about a person's identity.

Temari stopped at the threshold of the city itself. The group was still cast into shadow from the towering rock rising on either side of them, but just beyond Temari early morning sunlight lent its luster to sandstone buildings turning simple brown into varying shades of red and gold.

"Lord Kazekage will be expecting us, so we're going straight to his office. We'll rest later." Alphonse barely managed to suppress a groan before following Temari into a city filled with some of the most unusual buildings he had ever seen. There were almost no right angles to be found as though the weather had eroded them away, and many of the buildings had these spherical structures placed on top of them. They looked as though the same giant that had carved the entryway had decided to play a game of marbles across the rooftops. Even the windows were circular. Pathways running between the buildings created elevated walkways for second layers of traffic. If Konoha had seemed strange to Al, this city was altogether foreign. It was a blatant reminder that he was no longer anywhere close to home.

As they approached the center of the city, one building stood out in comparison to all the others. While the other buildings lacked sharp angles, this one was almost completely spherical. A giant round sign proclaimed the importance of this piece of architecture in red letters that Al had no hope of understanding. Tsunade's language jutsu had only given him the ability to understand _spoken_ language. Al still had no idea how all of those lines translated into words.

Once again, at the gate of the spherical building, the guards simply let them pass. Either security was really lax, or the Kazekage was so powerful that they had no reason to worry about his safety.

While the group followed the winding hallways, Al attempted to force his muddled mind into high gear. If he was to be talking to someone as powerful as Tsunade, he needed to avoid mistakes at all cost.

Finally, they reached an impressive set of doors at the end of a hallway in the upper half of the building. Naruto got there first; his fist pounding against the wood creating an excessive amount of noise. Sakura rolled her eyes.

Once the echoes had finally stopped reverberating from the walls, a quiet voice spoke from behind the doors.

"Come in."

Naruto wasted no time obeying the voice. The doors swung open revealing an office much like Tsunade's back in Konoha. Well, not exactly the same – the walls were a different color and it was a lot more organized – but it was close enough. Staring out of the window with his back towards the door was a figure dressed in a white robe and scarf. His blazing red hair stood in stark contrast to the reserved nature of the robe. What surprised Al was how short he was. He was only slightly taller than Naruto.

"Gaara!" Naruto bounded into the room and the figure turned to face them. His blue eyes were rimmed as though he had had as much of a problem sleeping in the desert as Al but, in his case, it had lasted for years. The blue orbs hid any real emotion, but the faint smile tugging at his lips hinted that he was actually happy to see the hyperactive blond ninja. That small smile was soon blocked from view as Naruto engulfed the red-head in a giant hug and slapped him on the back.

Finally, the Naruto released the Kazekage who proceeded to brush himself off and attempt to regain some of his squished his dignity. "Ahem." The Kazekage cleared his throat. By this point, it was apparent that not only around the same height as Naruto, he was around the same age. _If the Kazekage's the most powerful ninja in the village, I don't want to see how strong this kid is when he gets older. _

"Welcome to Suna." He sat down in his chair and pulled a small pile of papers toward him. "I called you here once I received Tsunade's letter because I believe I have some information that could be useful." A few sheets of paper were pushed toward the group and Shikamaru picked them up. "I think these are the bandits you are searching for."

The papers were passed to Al for his approval. The picture at the top did, indeed, fit the vague description Al had given to Tsunade, but the rest of the writing was gibberish. Oh well, he'd just fake it. If they called him on it, the most they could get him on was pretending to be able to read when he couldn't. "Yeah. This certainly looks like the group, but how can we be sure? There could be many groups of bandits around. Wait, sorry. That sounded offensive. I don't mean that you allow bandits to wander freely, just that there might be lots of bandits…." Al stopped before his addled mind could dig itself into a deeper hole. "Sorry. Here." He put the papers back on the desk.

"No offense taken." The Kazekage's blue eyes seemed to be evaluating Al. "Naruto. Why don't you show everyone where the guest rooms are. I'm sure you're all tired. Temari and Sakura will stay here and give me the details about your journey." His curt nod was a clear sign that they were all dismissed and Alphonse followed Naruto in hopes that he would finally get a good night's rest.

* * *

Gaara faced the two kunoichi before him after shuffling through his paperwork. "Now that the bandits have been identified, Lady Tsunade suggested that I send your group to apprehend them and get a final identification. Sakura, I trust your team is up for that?" Sakura nodded her agreement. "Very well. Than you make take one day to rest before heading out. Now then, I would like to hear both of your accounts of the journey."

Sakura opened her mouth to speak, but Temari beat her to it. "Forgive the interruption Lord Kazekage, but I have a question." Gaara tipped his head slightly to the side. "How is it possible that a small group of minor thieves could have kidnapped most of a village? As far as we know, they haven't even moved in the past few months."

"Hold on." Sakura was slightly confused. "These bandits haven't even _moved_ in the last few months?"

The papers rustled. "No. They haven't."

"Then there's no way these could be the same people. If Al says they are…"

The Kazekage looked up and blue eyes met green. "Yes. That would seem to be the problem."


	12. Chapter 12

**(Six days previously)**

The Kazekage was seated at his desk, head bent over the piles of paperwork he had to finish. If there was one thing he disliked about the job, this would be it. He brushed his red hair out of his eyes and sighed. He wanted to earn the love and trust of his people and if that meant protecting them from invaders or finishing paperwork on time, he would do it. He just didn't see why it had to be so… _boring_.

A light knock at the door provided a welcomed distraction.

"Come in." The red-head glanced up to watch his visitor's entrance.

The door opened and a head topped with spiky white hair peaked through the opening. The one uncovered eye appraised the room as if checking for enemies. Finding none, it returned to its customary twinkle and the rest of the ninja stepped over the threshold and into the office.

"Kakashi. To what do I owe this visit?"

"Lady Tsunade sent me. She wants me to look into a few things." The Jounin's slouched posture showed his comfort with his surroundings. He had a habit of appearing at ease even in the most hostile of situations and this didn't even count as mildly threatening.

"You want access to my records?"

"Yeah, but only some of them. Nothing important or vital to security. Oh, and a few maps. Yours are more complete than ours." The ninja shifted his weight and scratched his head uncomfortably. He knew it was a lot to ask even from an ally. After all, information was the deadliest weapon a ninja could possess.

Gaara stood and walked to the front of his desk. "I suppose I should take you, then." Kakashi blinked in surprise at the quick response, but retained enough composure to follow the Kazekage out of his office and down the halls. That letter Tsunade had sent must have contained more than Kakashi thought.

The two proceeded down the hallways in silence marked only by the occasional nod of acknowledgment to other passing sand ninja. At last, they turned down a final passageway and the two ninja standing guard snapped to attention.

Gaara stopped in front of them, his blue eyes not hinting that he noticed their previous lack of attention. "Requesting access to the archives."

"O-of course, sir." The left-hand guard reached for the door but paused, looking at the white-haired leaf ninja behind Gaara. His eyes flicked back to Gaara asking a silent question.

"He's with me." The guard nodded and opened the door to allow them both to pass.

The room they entered was cool and dark; the walls windowless. Scrolls filled the shelves and lined the walls but resisted the haphazard urge that the scrolls on Tsunade's bookshelf had long ago succumbed to.

"Tsunade wrote that you have a stranger in your village whose story needs cross-referencing. Is that right?" Kakashi simply nodded. "Which records do you need?"

"A detailed map of the Wind Country and a record of recent bandit activity. Specifically kidnappings."

"Is that all?"

"No…wait…there's one more." Kakashi's eyebrow furrowed. "Ah!" He snapped his fingers and his face relaxed. "That's it. A record of any border towns that speak another language, or at least a strong enough dialect to render our language incomprehensible."

If Gaara was confused by the request, he kept that emotion from showing. "Very well. I will inform the book-keeper and she will fetch whatever you need. If you want anything besides what you told me, you will need to come get permission again." With that, Gaara turned and disappeared behind a bookshelf.

Kakashi waited for a moment and then began looking for a place to sit. Spying a simple wooden table and some chairs, he proceeded to flop down, prop his feet on the table, tilt the chair back, and pull out his book to read. He was just reaching the climax when the main character [CENSORED: this fic is rated T while Kakashi's book is definitely NOT.] when he was interrupted by the approach of shuffling footsteps. He dismissed them as unimportant and returned to his book. The footsteps stopped in front of his table and someone cleared his or her throat. Never mind that. Just a few more pages-

BAM!

Kakashi jerked upright; the loud noise sending his fantasy world crashing down.

The culprit of the loud noise was a giant leather-bound tome that was lying on the table where it had been deliberately dropped. The one who had done the dropping was grinning at the startled look on his face. "Hehehehe. I finally got your attention, didn't I?" She cackled. Gently this time, she placed the scrolls and the rest of the (smaller) books on the table. Her giant glasses obscured most of her face while her locks of crazy white hair shot off in every direction. What wasn't obscured on her face was covered in wrinkles. Her short stature meant that even though Kakashi was sitting, she was looking straight at him with a grin that was becoming slightly creepy.

"Well. Hiya dearie. I'm the book-keeper around these parts. I "keep" the books. Get it? It's my job to _look_ for whatever _book_ you want to _find_. Hehe. That _rhymed_." She cackled again, overly pleased with her own cunning, and the harsh noise grated on Kakashi's ears. Out of the corner of his eye, he watched the Kazekage quietly slip out of the door leaving Kakashi alone with the batty old lady.

"I was just talking to the Kazekage. He's such a sweetie; I don't see why everyone was so afraid of him. He doesn't reply much but that just makes him so _cute_." She looked at Kakashi appraisingly. "Say, you're quite the looker aren't you? I haven't seen someone as fine as you down here in a _long_ time." Kakashi blanched as she grabbed a chair and sat next to him with an uncomfortable lack of space between them. "Now. What can I help you with?"

* * *

Five hours later, Kakashi made his escape. Despite concerns for the old lady's mental health, she was very well read and had a surprisingly acute, almost photographic, memory. The research he had thought would take at least two days if not more was complete. She'd even helped him take notes and double-check his findings.

Kakashi carried his stack of papers under his arm as he made his way back to the Kazekage's office. Upon reaching the door he knocked, waited for confirmation, and then stepped in. "Yo."

The red-head looked up. "I see you have finished." He said glancing at the papers under Kakashi's arm.

"Yeah. There's just one lead I need to follow up on and then we'll have our answer." The Kazekage remained silent waiting for elaboration. "The kid told us that he was from a small town on the outskirts of the Wind Country. He said they farm sheep and speak a different language. He also said they recently suffered a bandit raid. I was attempting to find a place like that in the records." Gaara nodded. Apparently he had already been told that much by Tsunade. "There was only one place that was even slightly close. Unfortunately, there is no sign that they speak a different language. If they did, you'd think there'd be _some _reference to it. No one in Konoha even recognized the language the boy was speaking."

Gaara's eyes looked calculating as he weighed every piece of information. "What are you going to do now?"

"I need to write a letter to Lady Hokage and then follow up on the lead. First, however, Tsunade had two things for me to tell you." The Kazekage waited. "Do the bandits you wrote about have any chance of actually being the right ones?"

"No." The answer was quiet and short, but carried a disproportionate amount of weight in its single syllable.

"Okay…well, Tsunade expected that." Kakashi took a moment to regroup before continuing. "Secondly, Lady Tsunade would like you to inform Sakura about everything. She's the one that has been watching over this kid, and will be the best person to make a decision when the time comes. Tsunade trusts her and doesn't want her judgment to be impaired by a lack of knowledge or being left in the dark about anything. She will also give you a full report on the journey once she gets here."

Gaara simply nodded leaving Kakashi standing awkwardly in the silence.

After a few moments, the white-haired ninja realized he had just been dismissed and began backing toward the door. With a last glance to make sure the Kazekage wasn't going to spring any last minute demands, he slipped across the threshold and into the hallway beyond. He had a message to deliver and a town to visit.


	13. Chapter 13

**(Present time)**

Wearily, Alphonse followed Shikamaru toward the rooms they had been assigned. Since it was only to be for a day or two, the boys – Shikamaru, Naruto, and Al – would share one room while the girls – Sakura and Hinata – would share the other. In simple terms, what this meant was that Al _still_ did not have the privacy he so desperately desired. At least there would be _less_ people.

Shikamaru opened the door to their room and casually flopped onto one of the beds. Across the hall, Hinata entered her room and began organizing it for when Sakura arrived. Naruto followed Shikamaru's lead and dumped his packs before collapsing onto the other bed. Al carefully set his things down before taking a closer look at the room. There were only two beds.

"Um…" Al was unsure of how to start. He didn't feel like simply stating the obvious, but if the ninjas hadn't already noticed, perhaps there was no other choice. "There's only two beds."

Shikamaru sat up, or rather semi-lifted his head, in order to assess the validity of Al's statement. A quick scan proved it true and he flopped back down. "Hey, Naruto. Go find another room."

"WHAAAAT!" Naruto fully sat up the suddenness of his movement reminiscent of a person who just sat on a pin. "Why do _I_ have to move? You're just being lazy. No way, I'm staying here. _You_ move."

"Fine." Shikamaru didn't twitch much less move from his recumbent position. "Sleep on the floor."

"Ehh?" Naruto was almost standing now; an argument on the verge of erupting. "Sleep on the _floor_? What type of response is that? You're the team leader so you should stop daydreaming and go find a different room." He folded his arms across his chest.

Al decided to step in before it got out of control. "If it's really that much of a problem, _I _can just find another place to sleep. There seemed to be plenty of open rooms. It would be no trouble at all. Really." Al reached for his bags and was stopped by two very different responses: a loud 'no' and a lighthearted 'okay.'

Shikamaru was glaring at Naruto after finally finding the energy reserves to wrest his body to a full sitting position. "No." He repeated to Al and then turned back to Naruto. "He shouldn't have to move. He's the one we're escorting and you're still a Genin – the lowest ranked ninja on this mission. Move or sleep on the floor."

Naruto drew in a breath as if to start protesting, held it for a second, and then exhaled sharply. "Fine." He rolled off of the bed and landed with loud 'thump' on the ground. It would be a few minutes before he recovered enough good humor to talk again.

Feeling like sighing as well, Al grabbed his things and placed them on the bed. _So much for that opportunity. I guess Shikamaru doesn't trust Naruto to watch me close enough. Great._ Al sat down to twiddle his thumbs while he waited for something interesting to happen. Even as tired as he was, there was no way he could sleep right now.

Finally, he grew bored of the quiet. "Hey, Naruto?"

"Whamph ya wan?" Naruto's response was muffled by the floor and the arms which his head was buried in.

"You said you'd show me around Suna. Can you still do that?"

Naruto's head popped off the ground as quick as Ed refusing milk. "Of course! You want to go now? I know I've already said this, but you're going to love it!" A happy grin replaced his previously dour features and, just like that, his good mood returned.

Al nodded emphatically and Naruto jumped to his feet. "Alright! Then what are we waiting for? Come on!" Naruto turned and left the room and Al followed right behind purposefully ignoring the glare from the supposedly sleeping Shikamaru. Apparently wandering around the town wasn't on the genius's agenda for the day. Too bad.

* * *

The morning passed pleasantly with Naruto introducing Al to every interesting aspect of the city. The two blonds had free reign and made good use of it. In one instance, Naruto even helped Al scale a building in order to get a complete, unhindered view of the city. The people below looked so tiny that Al knew, without a doubt, this was why Ed liked traveling by roof-top and high places in general. Despite the dangers of falling off, you felt like you were on top of the world. This far above, all of the worries that seemed so pressing down below were simply swept away in the breeze.

With a new sense of perspective and a cleared mind, ideas flowed more easily. On their way back down, Al decided that a break for lunch was in order.

"Naruto, while we were up there, did you see that restaurant?"

The blond ninja thought for a moment. "Where?"

"Off to the right, about 40 degrees down, in front of that building that looked like a person wearing a backpack except without limbs."

"Oh…. Yeah. I think I know which one you mean."

"Anyway, they were selling those circles-of-food-on-a-skewer things-"

"Dangos."

"Yeah, those. I was wondering if we could have those for lunch."

Naruto thought for a moment and then shrugged. "I don't see why not." He grinned. "Let's go get some. My treat."

Climbing the building had actually been hard work and Al was planning on using that to his advantage. "If you don't mind, I'd rather wait here. I'm still a little bit tired from all of that climbing and my body could probably use the rest."

"You're still tired?" Naruto looked slightly curious. Because of his accelerated regenerative abilities that accompanied his Jinchuriki status, empathizing with normal healing rates was difficult. He waited for Al's confirming nod before continuing. "Alrighty then. If you're sure. Do you want them sweet, salty…?"

Al had no idea what they were much less what flavor he wanted. He had other things on his mind. "I'll just take whatever you're getting."

"Okay. I'll be back soon. It won't take more than a second." With a wave, Naruto headed off at a pace slightly faster than a normal walk, but still less than a full bolt.

_I hope he was exaggerating. I'm going to need more than a second._ Alphonse waited until the distinctive orange jumpsuit disappeared from view and then disappeared himself into the narrow alleyway on his right. It was small, dark, and devoid of any windows or watching eyes. In other words, it was perfect.

A quick survey of his surroundings confirmed the lack of life. With a touch of foreboding, Al clapped his hands together keeping the noise to a minimum. If someone saw the light from the transmutation, he would be in trouble. On the other hand, if he didn't confirm that alchemy worked he would go insane. Potential danger or potential insanity wasn't much of a choice.

Al concentrated on the runes and let the energy flow. He would rather fight than go insane any day. The energy built inside him its circular flow and warmth feeling so much more comforting and just plain 'right' than his failed attempt at learning that jutsu. The energy flowed properly from the ground, through his connected hands and back into the earth. How anyone could ever be expected to contain all of the energy in their stomach of all places was beyond him. That much energy was impossible for a normal person to contain or produce.

When the runes had run their course, Al leaned down and touched his hands against the sandstone ground. Blue light flashed as the energy rushed to complete its given objective. Al's shoulders slumped in relief as the sandstone shifted and reshaped itself.

The blue light faded leaving a very relieved blond staring at a statue of a miniature panda. He bent down and picked it up. The coloring was wrong, but that was only because of a lack of proper pigment in the available resources and through no fault of the transmutation. Other than the coloring, every hair, every detail, was in place making it a perfect replica of a certain panda that he had met in Amestris. With a last, lingering look, he tucked the statuette into his pack to remove all traces of the transmutation, and headed back to wait for Naruto's inevitable return with the food.

Al listlessly sat on the curb once he had emerged back into the desert sun. He didn't mind the odd looks he received from some of the passers-by. In fact, he didn't even notice.

The transmutation had worked.

Al smiled when he saw the familiar orange jumpsuit picking its way through the crowd laden down with food. Al didn't even care what the food was. Regardless of how it tasted, with his mind at ease for the first time in a long time it would be one of the best meals he'd eaten.

* * *

Sakura's mood had not improved in the past few days since leaving Suna. The words spoken by Gaara and the instructions and warnings given by Lady Tsunade persisted in repeating themselves over and over. Like a bad memory, they were impossible to ignore and even more impossible to forget.

As much as she would never admit it, Al's contented expression after his return from his little jaunt with Naruto had disturbed her. Once you started suspecting someone, every little difference became a cause for alarm and a potential threat. The mind blew every movement out of proportion until a simple wave could be seen as a signal to begin an invasion. Suspicion was exhausting.

But that wasn't the only thing that was getting on her nerves. Temari had decided to join their group once again and was currently leading the way. Her pace posed no problem to the ninjas, but she seemed to have a knack for knowing exactly how fast Al could go before he gave out. She was good enough at it that technically there wasn't even anything wrong leaving Sakura unable to even use her status as a medic to vent her frustrations.

The only thing that helped was that thanks to the pace, they had long ago left the desert behind. Once more back among plants and cover, Sakura felt much more comfortable. She'd grown up in a heavily forested area – it wasn't called the Village Hidden in the Leaves for nothing – and there was something about that environment that felt … comfortable. Even in the deepest recesses of her mind, Sakura refused to admit home-sickness. It was degrading.

Sakura could tell that she wasn't the only one feeling more at ease. With their return to familiar terrain, Hinata visibly relaxed. Away from the open expanses of the desert, her Byakugan once more became an invaluable asset to the team. With her increased confidence, she even found the strength to walk next to Naruto for most of the trip. Despite the myriad of colors her face turned, Hinata's expression was as happy as Sakura had ever seen it. Sakura could never fathom how it was that while _everyone else_ on the team knew of Hinata's affections; Naruto remained oblivious. The boy was truly an idiot.

And so it was that Temari's information had finally led them to their targets.

The five ninjas plus one tag-a-long were perched on a hilltop peering down on the bandit group they were supposed to apprehend. In truth, to take down this ragged bunch five able ninjas was overkill. Two, or perhaps one proper ninja and two normal genin without Jinchuriki status, would suffice.

"Alphonse." Sakura was staring at the blond with a gaze so cold it turned his blood to ice and the subsequent blockage almost caused a heart attack. "Are these the right bandits?" This was the question they'd all been waiting for. The answer would decide the course of the mission.

"I…I…I don't know." The last part was spit out rapidly and almost rushed. "Th-they're too far away for me to see clearly. I'm not sure."

Sakura recognized evasive wording when she heard it. Al didn't want to flat out admit that these were the bandits because in all likelihood they weren't and he knew it. At the same time, if he denied their validity, he might not get a chance like this again. He couldn't keep denying forever or someone would get suspicious. Then again, why would he deny it? They were close to his description and he had no way of knowing the information that Sakura possessed.

"Are they or are they not?" Sakura's gaze now burned holes into it's recently formed ice. "They held you captive for months. There's no way you _couldn't_ recognize them. Their faces aren't even covered."

Al's gaze flicked back and forward searching for an escape rout; searching for that crucial piece of information that would save him from answering. It wasn't found.

"Yes." The word came out in almost a sigh. "Those are them. They're the ones who kidnapped me." His face tilted downward effectively hiding his expression. To any casual observer, it would appear that he was struggling with bad memories, but to Sakura he merely seemed ashamed of his lie and depressed at being forced into giving an answer.

Sakura felt like sighing too. _Why? Why would you lie? Now, as soon as this is over, you're an enemy and there's nothing I can do about it. I'm sorry, Al._ She truly was sorry. Her stomach had persisted in tying itself in knots and her heart felt as though her ribs had suddenly shrunk. Enemies didn't last long.

A nod from Shikamaru brought Sakura crashing back to reality. "With that decided, all we have to do is plan a course of attack. We need to spread out to canvass the area. We can then choose the best spot to attack from. They have no ninjas and haven't even noticed us yet. We have plenty of time."

Despite being a genius, this time Shikamaru was wrong. In the shadows behind the group, a dark form waited. Its only distinction was the metallic glint from its hand. As the group began to spread out, the shadow edged forward while hiding in the very shadows that had seemed so comforting. Shikamaru had been wrong on both counts: they were in danger, and they didn't have as much time as they needed. They had seconds.


	14. Chapter 14

When you're outnumbered and quite possibly outclassed, there are only a few options.

One: you can split your enemies into groups and take them down individually. On the positive side, you don't have to face them all at once. However, you had better hope you're secretive about it or if/when your enemies catch on, you're doomed.

Two: gather all enemies into one place and throw a bomb. Works like a charm unless you're on a routine patrol and _didn't bring any explosives_.

Three: take a hostage. The one downside is that you need a suitable candidate. Not just anyone will do. Preferably, an ideal hostage will be weak, defenseless, important, influential on the others in the group, and last but not least, weak. Luckily, a suitable candidate seemed to be available.

Honorable ninja are taught to protect the principal, their client, at any cost. A principal can easily be distinguished from his or her ninja guards by the simple lack of forehead apparel. This specific specimen looked particularly young, weak, and important if the number of ninja was any indication.

Perfect.

* * *

Al watched as the group began to disperse leaving only Naruto by his side. Temari and Shikamaru headed one direction while Hinata and Sakura went the other. A quick survey of the surrounding area and analysis of the bandits and they would regroup to begin the assault. Naruto had the radio for their group. He was supposed to alert the others if anything changed or if there were trouble, but the radio had been shoved in a pocket to be forgotten among old Ichiraku Ramen coupons and receipts. That radio, now covered in lint and paper scraps, fascinated Alphonse. Although this world was devoid of many of the things Al was used to, they had radios more, or at least as, advanced as anything from Amestris. It was funny how a little thing like that could spark the homesickness. The more he grasped onto the similar things, the more foreign this world seemed and the more he was reminded truly how far away from home he was. A world apart.

Al forced his mind back to the subject at hand. He could muse later. Right now, he needed to think of a reason why none of the bandits would admit to kidnapping or recognizing him. It would be foolish to rely on luck. It always lets you down when you need it the most.

Beside Al, Naruto had fallen silent and his mood had turned from lighthearted to serious. This was not the time for care-free laughter or jokes. Al supposed he shouldn't be surprised. Naruto _was_ a trained ninja after all. He would never have become one without–

A twig snapped.

If Al were a cat, his ears would have pricked up and swiveled. Spending years as a suit of armor had caused his remaining senses to amplify. His hearing and vision had dramatically improved while constant fights had honed what some would call a sixth sense. In reality, it was nothing more than the ability to register minute details that most would miss.

In a heartbeat, Al reached out and yanked Naruto to the ground with him. He was just in time. A moment later, a bright metallic blur zipped through the empty space where Naruto had been standing.

Al glanced at Naruto. The blond, confused by Al's antics, had missed the tell-tale streak of motion from the kunai that was now vibrating in the tree behind him. _Darn it all!_ Al looked to the weapon's source and clapped his hands. Yes, it would waste all of his efforts at secrecy, but he couldn't count on instinct to block another attack. _I won't let anyone else die on my watch._

Anger flashed as bright as the transmutation. The ground rippled and soared skyward to form a wall. Hopefully, it would give them a few seconds. Al turned around to find a wide-eyed Naruto already on his feet with a kunai in hand. Shocked blue eyes stared at Al for a moment and then re-focused over his shoulder. The orange and black blur shot past knocking Al to the ground and out of harm's way. A clang of colliding metal split the air.

Al hit the ground hard tasting dirt. Indignation rose swallowing any pain from his fall. He could fight. He wasn't some object to be protected. Al reached inside his vest to find the object he had so long ago sewn into it. Stitches snapped as Al pulled out a kunai of his own. A flash of blue light, and the blade elongated to form a proper knife. He would not remain weaponless.

He pushed himself off the ground and swiveled toward the battle, knife up in a defensive position. Choosing defense turned out to be a good idea. In front of his eyes, the black clad ninja somersaulted over Naruto's head grabbing the tail ends of his headband on the way down. Needless to say, when the ninja's feet hit the ground, Naruto's did exactly the opposite and he landed squarely on his back.

Before the Genin had completed his tumble, the ninja was directly in front of Al with kunai out. He barely had time to adjust his knife before the shock of impact reverberated down his arms threatening to buckle his legs.

The blows descended in rapid succession. Each time, Al barely managed to block. His opponent was faster than most in Amestris and he was out of practice as well. At this rate, he didn't even have time for a transmutation. The kunai swung in a one-handed slice. No time to move his blade. Al sucked his stomach in and curled his back dodging by a hairsbreadth. Unfortunately, the maneuver left him looking at the ground. _Crud. _

From his blind spot, a fist collided with the back of his head. Shooting pain caused his vision to spark and stars to dance. The knife flew from numb fingers. Once again, he tasted dirt. Hands gripped his hair pulling his head upward and cool metal pressed at his throat. It felt as though it was merely the edge of a piece of paper, but the side-effects of moving would be infinitely worse than receiving a paper cut.

"Don't even think about using that radio. One wrong move and I cut his throat." The gears in Al's head protested before beginning to turn. The ninja was talking to Naruto. As his vision came back, he could even see the Genin standing in front of him, hands spread to the side in the universal gesture of I-mean-you-no-harm.

"Hey, hey…don't worry. I'm not doing anything. See? My hands are out at my sides away from my weapons. No jutsus." Naruto was attempting to sound calm and in control. He was probably trying to comfort a supposedly terrified Alphonse. There was no need. Al had been in situations much worse than this. Besides, the ninja hadn't bothered to bind his hands. Without a weapon, what could a non-ninja possibly do?

A lot.

Equations and runes flashed through Al's mind as he touched the knife at his throat. A metal rod was much less threatening than a blade. Hands clapped and touched the ground making good use of the kidnapper's momentary confusion. The ground buckled and punched into the side of the ninja. The surprised aggressor went flying and the "helpless" hostage was free and unharmed. Well, other than a nasty lump from the metal pole. On second thought, it would have been better to just disintegrate it altogether.

Before Al even had a chance to stand up, Naruto had engaged the enemy ninja with a jutsu of his own. Now, there were at least ten Narutos attacking at once. Without the element of surprise, his enemy was falling back.

Al ducked out from beneath the alchemified earth and moved to help the Genin. Hands pressed together, he waited for an opening. In a combination move, the horde of Narutos kicked and punched sending their opponent flying backwards. The enemy ninja rolled to absorb the fall and quickly resumed a fighting stance. The ninja paused to analyze Naruto's movements and find the best angle to attack.

Pausing was the worst thing the ninja could've done.

Al saw his opening. Hands slamming into the ground, blue lightning surrounded its target leaving a very sturdy cage in its aftermath. The trapped ninja shouted an obscenity and aimed a kick at the bars.

If it had been a normal earth cage, the kick might have worked and _not _inflicted self-hurt instead. As it was, Al had seen Sakura's strength too many times to underestimate a ninja. The cage was made of granite created from a mixture of sandstone and shale from the ground. He would have preferred steel, or at least iron, but he couldn't create something that wasn't there. Either way, it was sturdy.

Upon making this discovery, more obscenities ensued. Out of nowhere, a chucked stone ended them leaving the ninja unconscious on the ground. Al's eyes darted to the source of he stone. A pink haired kunoichi stood behind the cage holding a second rock in her left hand. Naruto had enough sense to duck.

"IDIOT!" Her hands were empty as she stormed closer to a cowering Naruto. "You were supposed to _tell_ us if you ran into trouble! What _happened _here?"

"Sorry! Sorry, Sakura!" Naruto raised a hand to deflect a blow that didn't come. He continued cowering for a moment then lowered his hand and straightened up. "Everything was under control. There was just one attacker. I could handle it myself."

"No. I meant, what happened _here_?" Sakura gestured to the newly altered landscape.

"Oh. I think Al did that. I don't know how. It didn't look like any jutsu I'd ever seen." Naruto switched addressee. "Hey, Al! Was that you who made the cage and all the rest of the– Al?" The alchemist was gone.

Alphonse ran as soon as Sakura showed up. No excuse he made would explain his alchemy. _I have to get out of here as fast as I can. If I'm not a _prisoner_ perhaps I'll be able to find a way home. I can take care of myself. For now I just need to avoid detection and keep moving._ Of course, that was the moment when his body decided to stop moving. Then for some odd reason, his hand decided to scratch his head. Al was more than slightly freaked out.

"Well, well…. What's going on here?" A familiar voice spoke from behind Al. Shikamaru. Al just sighed. It figured.

Temari walked in front of Al's line of vision. "Hey there." She smirked in a way that would put one of Ed's maniacal grins to shame. "What are _you_ running from?"

Al remained silent. Anything he said would be used as further incriminating evidence.

The radio on Temari's belt crackled to life. "Temari. Can you read me? This is Sakura. Over."

Temari raised an eyebrow at Al and unhooked the radio. "Temari here. What do you want? Over."

"Al just gave us the slip. We need you and Shikamaru to spread out and search. Hinata's taking care of our area. Over."

Temari chuckled. "No need. We've already got him. Where do you want to meet? Over."

A spew of coordinates followed and Al found himself sauntering toward the one destination he did not want to go. Losing control of his own limbs did more than just irk him, it made him positively and absolutely aggravated.

Soon, the very clearing he had just left came into view. It was unremarkable from all of the rest except for the new ground features. Those bare bones of the earth stood in testament to the reason for his return. Al would have hung his head if he were in control of his own body.

Waiting for their arrival, a pink haired kunoichi paced divots into the ground. As Alphonse and his two guards entered the clearing, she looked up and stopped her pacing; the path etched into the land the only remaining trace. Her tense expression eased into one of mild relief.

She glanced over Al's shoulder. "Thank you, Shikamaru, for finding him. If you can, don't release your jutsu just yet."

Shikamaru shrugged (and Alphonse copied). "Alright…"

Sakura walked directly in front of the blond foreigner. "What _exactly_ happened here? Naruto said that somehow, _you_ did all of this. Is there something you haven't told us?"

Al didn't respond. His brain was in overdrive trying to come up with a solution. Nothing came to mind.

Sakura waited perhaps twenty seconds for an answer not forthcoming and then snorted: a very un-ladylike thing to do. "Fine. Don't talk. I still expect an answer when I get back. Any minute now those bandits are going to notice that their guard" she jerked a finger at the form 'sleeping' in the cage, "is missing. When they do, we will lose the element of surprise. Our mission is still to take out and capture those bandits." She looked around at everyone else in the group. "Naruto, Temari, and I will do so. Hinata, I'd like you to stay here and guard against anymore attacks. Shikamaru…just keep him restrained." She cast a pointed look at the destruction of their surroundings. "And whatever you do, don't touch your hands together. Naruto said that's how he did…_this_."

"Point taken." Shikamaru flopped over onto his back giving Al a nice view of the sky and lightly rustling tree branches. Under his breath, he muttered. "I thought that _I _was supposed to be the team leader." He had enough sense, however, to say it low enough, and quiet enough, that Sakura didn't hear his complaint.

Light footsteps and the absence of voices were all of the clues he received about the departure of the rest of the team. A small crunch of leaves signaled Hinata sitting down on his left. All the while, he was forced to simply lay there awaiting the return of the ninjas while staring into the infinite sky dreaming of home.


	15. Chapter 15

**Thank you to everyone that has been reading! Here is an extra long chapter as a treat for this story finally achieving 10,000 hits! =] You all are amazing. Enjoy. ^^**

**P.S. This chapter has been edited as of October 17, 2010. The ending has been edited to fit in with the new story arc. Thank you for your patience. **

* * *

Simple sky can become very boring while you are waiting on judgment. At the right time and in the right place, it can be relaxing, soothing, and mesmerizing all at once. This was not one of those times. Al's stomach was tying itself in knots around the butterflies it had caught and his senses were heightened to the point that the mere touch of grass felt like thousands of needles pricking his bare skin. All the while, he was forced to gaze skyward listening to only the occasional sound of battle drifting up from the valley. He was almost too on edge to worry about the safety of his friends turned prison guards.

Almost.

If he was worried about everything else imaginable, why not worry about one more? Al glared daggers at the sky as if to blame it for his misery. He blamed the sky because he wouldn't admit, even in the recesses of his mind, that if he didn't, the only one left to blame was himself.

He never heard the approach of the almost imperceptible footsteps.

* * *

Sakura ducked a flying kunai. By now, they had _definitely_ lost the element of surprise. At this point, that almost didn't matter. The battle wouldn't last much longer.

Her gaze rose to focus on the bandit who had thrown the kunai and was now running straight toward her. Poor bugger. Sakura had more than her share of pent-up frustration and now she had something to take it out on. With icy eyes her fist descended to punch the ground. The earth below the bandit – and most of the surrounding area to be exact – shattered and crumbled. The unfortunate brigand was caught in the disaster zone and sent tumbling. Mercifully for him, his head collided with a timely rock knocking him unconscious. It would have been more painful if Sakura had gotten to him.

_Tch._ Still not satisfied, Sakura went looking for another victim. There weren't enough to make this a real challenge. Even before she got to the rest of the gang, a gust of wind from Temari and a couple of Narutos had done their job leaving a bunch of stunned or unconscious bandits in their wake. Sakura scowled at the lack of opponents and, for lack of a better target, toppled a large wagon with a well-placed kick.

This was more impressive than it sounded because the wagon had long ago ceased its wandering habits and had become a permanent structure incapable of moving. As it toppled, great clods of earth were tossed skyward and a cacophony of sounds split the air as the contents tumbled and collided with each other.

Feeling mildly better, Sakura joined Temari and Naruto tying up the bandits. They were to be delivered to the Daimyo and then sent to prison. More than likely, they would soon after be sent out as part of a labor force or for some other punishment. It served them right.

Among the three ninjas, they found enough rope to go around. Naruto's clones were sent to fetch the rest of the bandits from around the camp, and soon there was a nice pile of bruised and battered brigands trussed up and ready to go.

They would be Temari's responsibility. After all, she was the only one of the ninjas that was actually from the Wind Country and the only one that would be allowed to bring a caravan of prisoners. Besides, Temari was more than happy to oblige. After the Daimyo had cut funding to Suna, she was all for any – legal – headache she could give him. A host of new prisoners was exactly the opportunity she had been looking for.

"You have everything under control here?" Sakura looked pointedly at the number of prisoners that Temari would have to escort.

"Under _control_? Why wouldn't I? There's only around, say, fifteen of them." Her smile grew demented. "There might even be a few less by the time we arrive. Who knows?" She shrugged as though whatever befell the prisoners _wasn't_ completely at her discretion.

Sakura _thought _Temari was joking, but the tone of voice still made her shiver. Recollection of the past reputation of the sand siblings passed through her mind. Perhaps she really had no idea what Temari was capable of. She would just have to believe that blond kunoichi had changed.

Sakura forced her mind back to the business at hand. "Well, then we'll be leaving them in your care. Naruto and I will be heading back to deal with Alphonse."

Temari raised a skeptical eyebrow. "Good luck dealing with the little spy. I don't know why your Hokage's let him be for so long. I wouldn't have."

Sakura bristled at Temari's tone, but bit back a retort. She gave a fake smile. "I don't know either. Lady Tsunade must have her reasons." She turned her gaze to find her fellow leaf ninja who appeared to be riffling through a nearby tent searching for souvenirs. "Naruto! Come on, we're leaving!"

The whiskered ninja emerged shoving some unidentifiable object into his pocket. _Well, he either grabbed more weapons or some stupid, petty artifact that we're all going to be forced to look at and admire for the next week. Maybe he even found some ramen. At least _that_ could potentially be useful_. The whiskered ninja bounded toward the two. Before he reached them, Temari spoke.

"Hey, Sakura. Tell Shikamaru that I'll see him in Suna when this is all over." She spoke so low that Sakura almost didn't hear. Sakura's previous annoyance slipped away. Before she had a chance to reply, Naruto arrived his voice preceding him.

"We're done? Really?" He looked at their prisoners and then made a connection. "Thanks for taking care of everything Temari." He grinned and received a scowl in response. Gone was the low voice from before. The typical Temari had returned.

"Don't thank me. I'm just doing what I was instructed. Take care of that brat and we'll call it even."

"Brat…? Oh! You mean Al. Yeah, I can't wait to learn that jutsu of his. That would be awesome if I could do that, too. Combine that with the Shadow Clone Jutsu and BOOM!" He mimicked the stone exploding out of the ground.

Sakura would've slapped her forehead, if she hadn't been too shocked to even react. _The idiot doesn't even get that Al is now a _threat_. How am I supposed to explain this to him?_ She glanced at Temari who met her gaze with an equally incredulous stare. Sakura decided not to even bother to explain. _I'll just let Al say something self-incriminating enough to take care of the entire situation_.

"Yeah…anyway, we'll meet up with you soon Temari." Sakura turned and headed out of the valley while Naruto gave a final wave. He received a one fingered response, but took no offense. He simply shrugged and followed Sakura up the hill. As the camp disappeared from sight, Temari's shouts followed them. Distance didn't mute the angry tones. Apparently, the bandits had been sleeping too long. They were in for a rough journey.

On the contrary, Sakura and Naruto's trip to rejoin their companions was quite short. Time sped inordinately fast for Sakura as questions, concerns, and strategies flitted through her mind all centering around a certain blond awaiting her return. In what seemed like seconds (not nearly enough time to make a decision) the clearing came into view. She had already entered before she registered the presence of an unknown figure. A threat. Her mind, already edgy, jumped to high alert. Her hand reached for her weapons.

The figure, perched atop one of the new additions to the landscape, raised a hand in response. "Yo."

Sakura relaxed: shoulders slouching and her hand falling back to her side. She was going to have a heart attack one of these days.

"Kakashi!" Naruto smiled and gave a wave just as surprised as Sakura to meet their teacher this far from Konoha. Sakura had been under the impression that Lady Tsunade had sent him on a special mission. Perhaps it was related to Alphonse after all. She wouldn't put it past Tsunade to plan that far in advance. Then again, Kakashi _was_ known for taking his time. She wouldn't put it past _him_, either, to take a detour after the completion of his mission to check on his former students. Anything to avoid work.

The masked ninja hopped down from his perch and acknowledged Naruto's wave with a nod. "I've been here for almost twenty minutes waiting for your return." He continued to slouch. "Where's Temari by the way? I heard she was with you." Behind Kakashi, Sakura could see Shikamaru almost imperceptibly raise and turn his head in their direction. The conversation had somehow managed to catch his ever fickle attention.

"She's…escorting…the bandits to the Daimyo. She said she'd meet _us_ in Suna when she's done." Message delivered. She glanced pointedly at Shikamaru and he pretended not to be listening. As if she didn't already know. Idiot.

"Oh…well, you took long enough capturing them. I was bored. Were they more skilled than we'd thought?" Kakashi's one eyebrow was raised in a questioning look.

"Not really, we just had to bind them all before leaving." Kakashi nodded his acceptance of her answer. _So, finally the roles are reversed. For once, _I'm_ the one to make _you _wait. Just a pity it didn't take longer. You always made us wait hours before a lesson._

It was petty, Sakura knew, but retribution was sweet nonetheless.

"Hey, Kakashi. Why are you here?" Naruto was always so blunt.

"Hmm? The Hokage sent me to check up on you. I understand, from what Hinata told me, that our little friend has an ability he forgot to tell us about. Now that we're all here, perhaps he'd be willing to share?"

Kakashi turned and crouched in front of Alphonse who had long ago been freed from the Shadow Possession jutsu. Shikamaru could only hold the technique for around five minutes, so Hinata had bound Al's arms behind his back so that his hands couldn't touch. His legs had also been bound so he couldn't run away and was forced to remain sitting. Right now, he was looking down avoiding Kakashi's gaze. With one hand, he doodled in the dirt behind him. Apparently, he was fidgeting because he was nervous. Of course he would be around someone he didn't know.

Before Kakashi had a chance to speak, Sakura had walked over and given him a slight shove. Completely shocked, Kakashi pin-wheeled for a moment and took a few miniature steps before finally regaining his balance. He looked like a duck. A slight smile crossed Al's face before it faded into memory. Sakura took Kakashi's spot in front of Alphonse and the rest of the ninjas (except Shikamaru) spread out behind her to see what was going on.

If Sakura had to describe Al at this moment, she would say that he looked depressed. He was avoiding her gaze and his previous smile had left no trace of its existence. His fidgeting had increased.

"Hey Alphonse." She kept her tone as kind as possible, but he didn't even acknowledge her presence. Despite her earlier anger and frustration, it was really hard to be mean to him when he looked like a kicked puppy. She just didn't have it in her to do so.

"I'm going to need you to speak with us and be completely honest. It's a matter of security. You understand, right?" No response. Sakura continued anyway. "We need to know what really happened and how you came to Konoha. Where you are from and how you did…this."

Silence answered. Sakura took a deep breath.

"Alphonse. Did this group of bandits really kidnap you?"

A long pause and then, finally, an answer so quiet she almost didn't hear. "No."

_Well, that's a relief. At least he's not lying anymore._

"Wait. _What?_ Those people _didn't_ kidnap you?" Naruto looked around at the rest of the group in confusion. "Then why did we capture them? What's going on here?" His eyes searched everyone on the team and then finally landed on Al who flinched and looked even more depressed. Apparently he wasn't comfortable with deceiving his "friend."

"I'm sorry, Naruto. I lied." Al finally looked up his eyes showing none of the depression Sakura had expected. Instead of dull sorrow, they radiated resolution tinged only by a touch of regret. Never before had their unusual golden color been so apparent and so unnerving.

Naruto just blinked in response to the apology.

Alphonse met the stares of everyone else. "Yes…I lied." He took a deep breath and let it out. When he spoke again, his voice was at an audible level. "I lied because I had no idea what else to do. I have no idea how I ended up so close to Konoha." He shrugged. "Before I woke up there, I wouldn't have even known the place existed. A kidnapping seemed like the most plausible explanation."

He was daring them to say he was lying. "Alright. Well, we always knew you weren't kidnapped by those bandits at any rate. They haven't left this area in months." This time it was Al's turn to be surprised.

He groaned. "I was set up." It was a statement not a question. "Just my luck. How much do you know?"

Sakura remained silent. This was her chance. By not saying anything, Al was free to assume the best or the worst. She just had to let guilt run its course.

Al waited a moment for an answer that was not forthcoming and then seemed to collapse in on himself slightly. "I wasn't lying about where I was from. My hometown really is a little sheep herding village named Resembool. I was never intending to hurt anyone." His eyes glowed with the light of honesty. A light that, in Sakura's mind, was too often false.

Next to Sakura, Kakashi cleared his throat. "I was sent by the Hokage specifically to research that very point." Al winced again and looked away. "I found no village named Resembool matching your description in the Wind Country. Actually, the name doesn't even matter. I couldn't find a single village matching your description."

Naruto was now sitting down by now, and Hinata's fingers were moving rapidly enough that the eye had difficulty following their path.

Alphonse bit his lip. "What if I said that Resembool isn't _in_ the Wind Country?"

"I'd think you're lying again, of course. That is, unless you have some way to prove it." Kakashi's eye looked straight at Al who didn't meet his gaze. The blond mutely shook his head.

Sakura stepped in. "The heart of the matter isn't where you are from. If that was all you lied about this wouldn't be as big of an issue. The problem is this…ability…of yours. If you're a ninja, it's a lot harder to believe that you wouldn't have _heard_ of Konoha, or that you had any good intentions. We have to assume the worst."

"What if I'm _not_ a ninja?"

The kunoichi snorted. "Not a ninja? If that wasn't a jutsu, then what _was_ it? A Kekkei Genkai? I don't know about you, but to me that still qualifies you as a ninja."

"A Keki like Hinata…? How…? Never mind. No, it's not like that at all. It's actually…well, it's called Alchemy."

No heralding fanfare of trumpets greeted this declaration. Sakura had no idea what he meant.

Al had apparently been hoping for a more rewarding response. Something more along the lines of 'Oh! Now it makes perfect sense!'

It didn't happen.

"If I do something, can you promise not to freak out and try to kill me or anything?" Sakura tensed, ready for whatever he thought he could do while bound, but didn't rush to try and stop him. Apparently that was all the encouragement he needed.

A blue light shone from behind his back. As the only one able to see what was going on – he'd been too lazy to move – Shikamaru bolted upright, watching intently. There were some benefits to being to lazy to move. Alphonse gave a quick jerk of his arms and then held them, free of their bonds, far apart on either side of his body.

That was a good choice on his part, because Sakura was already beside him holding her kunai and ready to knock him unconscious if he tried anything else.

Assured that Al was finished, Sakura inspected what had happened. Behind the blond's back, a thin blade jutted from the ground and the cut rope lay beside it. Al had simply sliced his bonds.

"That," Al said, "was Alchemy."

Sakura didn't believe him. To her, it had simply looked like an earth manipulation jutsu that gave off light. Not very good for night missions. Shikamaru was now sitting up shaking his head. "No hand signs." He looked straight at the rest of the team plus an extra Jounin. "He didn't use any hand signs. His dirt doodles were the things that did it. What type of jutsu doesn't use _hand signs_?"

"For the last time, I told you already it's not a _jutsu_. It's called _Alchemy_. It's a science where I'm from. I'd never even heard of jutsus or ninjas until I arrived in Konoha. Everything seemed so strange. I didn't tell you about myself because I wanted a way to protect myself. I was scared. Honest." His doe eyes shone with an earnest light. Hinata had already relaxed, Naruto was nodding along, and Shikamaru seemed to have given up and gone back to sleep although Sakura had the feeling he was once again faking. Sakura stubbornly ignored Al's pleading look. She needed proof.

"Alright. Then we need you to tell us everything: where you're from, what you're doing here, and how you can do that…alchemy." Sakura brandished her kunai promising pain. "And this time, _no lying._"

"Yes ma'am!"

Honestly, the threat was probably an empty one, but he didn't need to know that. The fear of the unknown is what makes threats so effective.

Al shifted his weight back and forth. He looked like a rocking horse. "Um…I know you said no lying – I'm not going to! – but the story's kind of long… and um…"

"I don't care. You owe us that much at least." Sakura attempted to make her voice harsh.

Naruto leaned over her shoulder ruining the mood with his smile. "Yeah! You've never told me anything about yourself." A thought occurred. "Hey, do you think I could learn that alchemy stuff?"

Alphonse blanched. "That…that would take even longer. It took me years to learn." Naruto's smile faded. "I, I'm sorry…it's not that I don't want to, it's just… I guess I better start on the story."

Al took a deep breath and began, hesitantly at first and then becoming more confident. The fantastical account he spun messed with Sakura's sense of reality, but it had the unmistakable ring of truth that his previous yarns had been missing.

Eventually, the story became too much and even Sakura's brain began to frizzle. A quick survey proved the rest of the team to be faring much the same. Hinata's eyes were glazed, Shikamaru was watching the clouds, Kakashi was reading his book, and Naruto had the unmistakable look of someone listening to a bedside story. He even asked for details in the same way.

Finally, Al finished and Sakura's brain was left to process in peace. It would be awhile until she could fully comprehend everything he'd said. She didn't even know where to start. How could she talk to a person that claimed he'd lived as a soul trapped in a freaking _suit of armor_ for the past four years? How was that even possible?

A groan from the opposite side of the clearing disrupted her thinking. _Oh no. Really?_ The same ninja she had knocked out earlier that day was now waking up. Sakura glanced around at the rest of the team, and much to her delight Kakashi grudgingly got to his feet. He strolled away absently flicking through his book and presently a loud 'thunk' echoed across the clearing.

Kakashi strolled back and took a seat now laden with a solid branch. Five pairs of eyes watched him wide with shock. He looked back. "What?"

Shikamaru rolled his eyes, Hinata sighed, and Sakura just shook her head. "Well, now we have another issue to deal with. Temari was supposed to take that one too, but she already left so-"

"Fine, fine, fine… I get it." Shikamaru stood and dusted himself off. "Now that Kakashi's here, I'm the one who's going to be sent on prisoner duty. You don't need two team leaders in one group, and I know where to go. Besides, I should be able to catch up to Temari fairly quickly. She has an entire group to attend to."

Sakura hoped her face didn't look as shocked as she felt. Yes, that probably would have been the train of reasoning but still, _Shikamaru _volunteered for_ work_! Naruto wasn't so covert. His jaw was about to hit the ground. Even Hinata looked shocked.

"Well." Sakura composed herself. "I don't object. Anyone have a problem with that?" Hinata shook her head while Naruto was still too stunned to respond. "Then thank you, Shikamaru."

The lazy ninja didn't even move. "However, I'm going to need a way to get through that cage…"

"I can help!" Al's voice sounded positively chipper now that he was finished recounting his epic of a tale and hadn't immediately been declared insane. "If you'd just unbind my feet so I can get over there, it would be no problem to deconstruct it."

Sakura was still wary. Just because he had talked for half an hour didn't mean that he was freed from suspicion. He still hadn't managed to prove anything other than the fact that he could perform a strange jutsu. That didn't support any of this 'other world' or 'soul' nonsense. All that stuff he said about a 'gate' and 'Truth' just made him sound like he'd eaten some bad mushrooms.

Oh what the heck.

It wasn't like he couldn't already do anything he wanted now that his hands were unbound. The only thing he'd be able to do if they freed his legs would be run faster. He was still nowhere near the speed of a ninja.

Sakura split his bonds.

The ninjas watched closely as the cage dissolved back into the earth. Hinata activated her Byakugan, but stood back to give Al some space. Kakashi wasn't as considerate and watched Al's every movement. He even lifted up his headband to observe using Sharingan. By the wide eyes afterward, even the Sharingan was having trouble analyzing the process. Maybe that was proof enough that this was no normal jutsu.

Shikamaru slung the unconscious ninja over his shoulder after using Al's discarded ropes to prevent the ninja awakening and attacking. He grumbled at the weight, but didn't take back his offer. Shikamaru raised one hand in farewell and headed after Temari.

As he left, two thoughts crossed Sakura's mind. First of all, he was following after _Temari_. She would have some good blackmail ammunition there. Secondly, Shikamaru was running away. He'd found the first out from a situation that his logical mind couldn't handle and he'd escaped. Traveling on his own, he would have time to come to grips with the information he had tried so hard to ignore and sleep through. Once again, _great_ blackmail information.

An awkward silence fell once Shikamaru left. The gentle rustling of the leaves seemed magnified and the nervous tapping of Hinata's fingers was more obvious than ever. The only subject left to talk about was the fantastical tale Al had just told. To admit it as true would violate reality as Sakura knew it. To claim yet another lie would bring nothing but confrontation. If it were night, the crickets would be swarming.

"Um…" Al broke the silence. "So, do you know if there is a way for me to get home?"

His inquiry was met by silence. Naruto looked at the ground and scuffed his feet. Sakura looked away. Only Hinata responded. "I… I… I'm sorry Al. I have no idea what to do. Per-perhaps we could find something in the records. Maybe the Hokage or… or… the Kazekage will know what to do? I'm just… I'm sorry."

Sorrow weighed on the blond's shoulders though he tried to stand strong. Its all consuming ability threatened to spread to the rest of the ninjas. Here was someone they had no way of helping. Heck, they probably didn't even fully comprehend the situation or the problem. There was no way they could help yet. A spark of indignation flared within Sakura. It was unfair of him to even _ask_ at this point. He should _know_ they would still be confused. Where was his common sense? A small part of her brain whispered that, instead, it was her thoughts that were being unfair; that she was hiding her discomfort behind a façade of scorn. Sakura pretended it didn't exist.

Kakashi cleared his throat. "Perhaps the best course of action will be to head back to Suna? We can confirm that the mission has been completed and send Alphonse's… information… to the Hokage."

"What mission?" Naruto looked at Kakashi in surprise. "I thought we were supposed to capture the bandits that kidnapped Al and these…didn't." Hinata looked equally confused.

"Ah, yes." Kakashi's eye twinkled. He always _loved _when he knew information others didn't. "But these were still bandits in the Kazekage's lands, and we're from Konoha. He has agreed to pay you for your services."

"Really! Gaara's so cool."

"No need to get excited, Naruto. It's not really much. Especially considering it was partially a favor for Lady Tsunade. Also, a sand ninja, Temari, was with you and is now actually delivering the prisoners."

His tone turned light. "Perhaps, Naruto, you'd be better off asking him to treat you to ramen instead. We all know how much you eat." He was clearly smirking behind his mask.

"Hmm… could I really do that?"

_The idiot's actually considering. How food motivated can you get? Well, at least the atmosphere is getting lighter._

Kakashi shrugged in response. Naruto was the one that was friends with the Kazekage. If anyone else asked… Then again, Gaara was smart enough to realize how much Naruto could eat. It was a wash.

"Speaking of Ramen, I'm hungry. Could we have ramen for lunch?" He looked like a kid in a candy store. No, scratch that. Like Lady Tsunade outside a casino begging Shizune for money.

"We don't _have _any ramen, idiot." In Sakura's opinion, the sooner Tsunade broke her bad habit, the better.

"Yeah we do. Look!" Naruto began digging through his pockets pulling out packages of ramen. What he couldn't hold in his own hands, he dumped into Hinata's. Beside them, Al's eyes widened in surprise although he still looked downcast. Well, at least Naruto's loot from the bandit camp turned out to be practical after all. If it had turned out to be yet another frog item, she was liable to shred it.

"Well?" Naruto beamed over his handful of packaged food.

"Well what?"

"Can we eat it now?"

Sakura sighed looking around at the rest of the group. Kakashi didn't really seem to care, Al… well, he seemed happy enough, and Hinata would go along with whatever made Naruto happy. Their mission was complete, there didn't seem to be a pressing need to eat their rations once again. Sakura shrugged.

"What are you doing asking _my_ permission, idiot?"

And so the fire was started, water boiled, and ramen cooked. Naruto's own personal sun was shining. Naruto beamed and dug in eliciting a giggle from Hinata and a snort from Sakura. Al ate with more caution occasionally dropping the chopsticks. At least he was doing better than the first few times he'd attempted. She'd found that pair broken and thrown beneath the bed. It's amazing what frustration can do.

Sakura was halfway through her bowl when a cry from Naruto split the air.

"Ouch! What the heck! OW!"

_Moron. What did he do _this _time? If he burned himself with the ramen, it serves him right._ Sakura looked up to see a hawk, of all things, perched on Naruto's shoulder persistently pecking him on the head despite his attempts to shake it off. As Naruto twisted attempting to escape its beak, the box on its back came into view.

A messenger hawk.

Kakashi was on the move before Sakura could get up placing a hand on Naruto's head to hold him still and unlatching the box to withdraw a scroll. Kakashi spread it out to read what was written, and Naruto was finally able to shrug the bird off his shoulder giving it the evil eye. If Sakura didn't know better, it seemed to be smirking right back.

The ninjas gathered around the scroll leaving a confused Alphonse still attempting to eat his ramen. He looked at the gathering group, but remained where he was for the moment. The message was written in a simple code that Sakura had seen often. It was Tsunade's favorite. Sakura finished deciphering it even before Kakashi.

She sat back, stunned, shaking her head in amazement. Naruto glanced between her and Kakashi who had set the scroll down and was quickly moving around camp packing. There was a sizzling sound and a puff of steam and smoke rose skyward as he dumped water on the fire extinguishing it immediately.

The blond looked at Sakura for answers. "So? What does it say? What's going on?"

Sakura stood re-rolling the scroll. "We have a new mission. We are to head back to Suna as fast as possible." She took a deep breath before continuing not believing her own words.

"The Kazekage's been captured."


	16. Chapter 16

**Hello! Thank you all for the wonderful support.**

**On another note, the ending of chapter 15 has been edited. Please, Please, PLEASE read that before continuing or you're bound to be a little (or very) confused. This humble authoress bows in gratitude for your patience and understanding. Thanks!**

This was absolutely humiliating.

Al was generally pretty good natured and could put up with anything, but being given a piggy-back ride by one of Naruto's clones because he couldn't run fast enough for the ninjas was totally and utterly humiliating. There was no other word for it.

Although, Al had to admit, he'd rather Naruto carry him than Kakashi. No matter how skilled they said he was, with only one eye, Al didn't trust Kakashi's depth perception. At speeds like this, traveling _through_ the tree branches, one misstep would lead to a painful plummet. Al would take his chances with the solid Naruto clone that shouldn't exist. It still creeped him out, but at least it could run straight.

He could feel the fabric under his hand – a rough cotton and wool mixture. He could see the weave of the fabric and the slight differentiation in color from the dyeing process. For all intents and purposes, he seemed real. The "clone" even _moved _and _talked_. It even had the same personality as Naruto; annoying habits and all. It wasn't possible unless things worked differently here than in Amestris. Perhaps there was something else they used instead of a philosopher's stone? A different type of energy? It was worth looking into.

For now, though, he was just concentrating on holding on. He wasn't even the one running and yet his arms and legs were starting to cramp. How pathetic. He would've run if they'd asked him to, but apparently time was of the essence. The Kazekage, the sleep deprived red-head Al had seen only a few days ago, had been captured and in attempted pursuit, his older brother had been poisoned. They needed a medic as fast as possible, and Sakura was the best option.

It was obviously annoying Naruto that he couldn't just head off after Gaara right now, but he understood that if they didn't travel to Suna first, Gaara's brother, Kankuro, would die. Naruto's heart was in the right place. That probably made it even worse. Choosing between a good and a bad option is easy. Choosing between two lives isn't.

The team was making good progress toward Suna; the trees were passing at a much more rapid pace than previously. The bandits hadn't been located too far from Suna anyway – a pretty gutsy thing in Al's opinion – and at the pace they were traveling, Al estimated they would arrive in about a day. Give or take.

Al's estimate was more of a haphazard guess. He hated to admit, but honestly he had no idea where they were.

"Hey, Naruto?"

"Yeah? What's up, Al?"

_Aarg. That's _so _creepy. _The Naruto Al had assumed to be the clone had just responded in the exact same way Naruto would. The other one hadn't even noticed. So, which one was real? Were they _both _Naruto, or were they different beings with the same memories? If Al had known this Jutsu thing when he was still a suit of armor, would he have been able to replicate the armor and would his soul have been split and bound to two different items, or would he have duplicated his actual body? It was only stuck beyond the gate, after-all.

This entire situation was messing with everything Al knew about the way the world worked and equivalent exchange.

"Al?" Naruto sounded perplexed at the lack of a response. He couldn't see Al's face after all. Al was glad of that. He didn't want Naruto thinking Al was disgusted by him or anything. He was just freaked out in general.

"Oh, sorry. I was just wondering how far away Suna is from here." _That's the _last _time I'm getting distracted. From now on, I'll think about things logically and calmly. They're already suspicious enough._

"Not too much longer."

"…"

"…"

Still no elaboration.

Al gave up. There was no use asking for a more specific answer. Ever since that note had arrived, Naruto had completely changed. If there was one thing Al knew about the blond ninja, it was how fiercely loyal he could be when it concerned his friends. Just by the way Naruto talked about the red-haired village leader, Al could tell they were close. They almost seemed like brothers in a strange sense. Just the way they played off of each other's emotions reminded Al of him and Ed.

If anything were to happen to Edward…

Al perfectly understood the struggle Naruto was going through. There was nothing worse than worrying about a close friend or sibling. Al looked once again at the rest of the group to gauge their thoughts. It wasn't like there was much else to do.

Sakura's expression was determined with only a slight tinge of concern. She was the medic that was being called upon and likely her mind was focused on the upcoming task. Al could imagine her running through every lesson to make sure she knew what she was doing. She staved off more far-reaching concern in favor of the most pressing conflict.

Hinata wasn't hiding her concern as well. Without a pressing job to perform, she didn't have the mental distraction and probably couldn't help dwelling on what had happened. Al knew his own mind had been concocting fantasy ideas about whom/what could possibly kidnap someone so powerful to lead an entire village. What made it even more discerning was the fact that apparently, according to Naruto, in order to lead a village you had to be the strongest. How would they possibly defeat opponents that had that sort of power?

Kakashi's face was unreadable as always.

With nothing else to distract him, Al began counting the passing trees, grew dizzy, and quickly decided to stop that particular exercise. It had _not_ been a smart idea. What would be more embarrassing than being a piggy-back ride would be to _fall_ because you zoned out. It would also be more painful.

Al struggled to find a way to keep entertained that wouldn't involve either mesmerizing himself or unneeded mental stress. There was no use debating the validity of equivalent exchange when he didn't have a way to test it. Although…

_If I could perform a jutsu, just one, I'd be able to understand._ He'd been unable to learn Alkahestry when May had tried to teach him, but that didn't mean he wouldn't be able to figure this out. He hadn't had very long to practice, after all. Now, if he could only remember what they told him to do. It had seemed simple enough in practice. Besides the 12 hand signals, there weren't even any runes to memorize. It was simply manipulating energy.

The concentrating on energy flow did the trick. It minimalized the nagging sensation of muscle pains and limbs falling asleep while preventing his mind from dwelling on situations that would only lead to fruitless pondering. In a way, it was similar to some of Izumi's lessons about alchemy and hand-to-hand combat. This would just be a way of harnessing that energy in a different format. Hopefully.

Time sped past.

A day and a half later, Al finally had his answer about the journey's length. Before the approaching team, the giant plateau that "concealed" the Village Hidden in the Sand jutted from the earth. The sharp black shadow it cast served as a warning to potential visitors. Apparently, it hadn't been imposing enough.

As they passed through the slitted entrance, Al's eyes caught on dark splotches intermixed with the sand. It was if the sand had been stained. Air suddenly became hard to find. If those were what he thought they were…

And then they were past. The ninja seemed not to have noticed, but the image remained in Al's mind in focused clarity. Air had returned, but it took more energy than usual to hold on. The force of gravity tugged on his chest and pulled the rest of his body along for the ride. At least now he knew for sure the type of enemy they'd be dealing with.

The type that had no respect for human life.

Just because he'd dealt with their kind before didn't mean he relished the idea of doing it again. In fact, Al's gut instinct told him to run the other way. This would be just another war he didn't need to be involved in – yet more grief and guilt and struggle. But since when do Elrics listen to their instincts?

Alphonse was never one to run away. He never would, and – other than running from Ed when he was in one of his frenzies – he never had. It didn't matter where they were or even that this was a completely different world. The effects were still the same. People were still people. The splotches intermixed with old newspaper clippings, stories, faces. One memory in particular: a small pigtailed face beaming from a photograph. A proud father.

He wouldn't let that happen again. Not if there were anything he could do about it.

Al barely noticed the guards waving them through, and soon they were outside a complex that Al assumed to be the hospital. A passing medic pointed them to the right room. At this point, Al was finally allowed to walk for himself. After so long being carried, the ground felt strange underfoot. He kept expecting it to move forward of its own violation. When it didn't, he almost lost his balance. His feet had also fallen asleep. Al had no idea why they called it falling asleep. When you fall asleep, you're usually comfortable. This was definitely _not._ Also, his foot wasn't _tingling_. It was being stuck with needles.

Al hobbled in after the rest of the ninja. Hinata hung back to walk with him, but Naruto blazed ahead followed almost as swiftly by Sakura. For once, Kakashi wasn't the last one in.

There was a loud clatter from inside, and Al and Hinata entered just in time to see Naruto clones fending off an old lady. Al tensed for a moment, and then relaxed as she backed away. Apparently, she had mistaken Kakashi for someone else. Al would not have wanted to be that person.

Once the commotion had died down, Sakura moved to inspect the boy lying on the bed. Al assumed it must Kankuro, as he was the only one in the room that seemed injured. He didn't look much older than Naruto or Al himself, albeit a little stockier.

She rolled up her sleeves and began barking orders. She wasn't mean; simply quick and efficient. With someone's life on the line, time was of the essence. There was no doubt in Al's mind that Sakura knew exactly what she was doing.

He moved as close as possible without getting in the way in order to watch Sakura's technique. Healing had always been a technique that interested Al. If he'd had more time to study it, perhaps Ed wouldn't have had to spend so much time in the hospital. He supposed, with all his experience in human alchemy, it wouldn't be too much of a step to learn healing as well. There had simply never been the time. When they weren't on the road, they'd been researching the Philosopher's Stone or attempting to fight back against the homunculi.

Of course, Al had had the nights. While Ed slept, he stayed awake and studied. There wasn't much else to do. This meant he had a considerable background of knowledge, but despite that fact, Al had never seen anything like what Sakura was doing.

Instead of using an array, it appeared she was using pure energy to heal. Al could see it extending from her hands and into her patient's body. She was attempting to remove the poison that was slowly killing him. Her face was furrowed in concentration as Al assumed she searched the bloodstream for any foreign contaminants and sucked it out. Much like the treatment for a snakebite except the blood remained in the body.

Beneath her hands, a small pool of the deadly liquid was growing hanging suspended in her pure energy. _Chakra_ Al reminded himself. In order to do the same thing with alchemy, the runes and circle would have to be incredibly complex. Al ran through a few ideas in his head, but quickly gave up. He wasn't a doctor.

Sakura remained that way for perhaps twenty minutes. Her hands remained over the cut that she was drawing the poison from, but beside the sweat accumulating on her forehead, nothing changed. The ominous, floating pool of liquid accumulating beneath her hands just grew slowly larger.

Finally, her shoulders slumped, posture relaxed, and she sighed in relief. She motioned one of the nearby aids forward, and carefully deposited the poison into a container. Only then did she release the glowing ball of energy.

"I managed to remove most of the poison. He should be stable now. The trace amounts remaining won't immediately affect him, but I'll need to prepare an antidote." Sakura looked at the Sand ninjas scattered around the room. "Where can I go to do that?"

The old woman who had previously tried to attack Kakashi cackled and guided Sakura from the room muttering something about a greenhouse. She seemed much friendlier now that she wasn't attacking anyone. She also seemed to be the most experienced medic. Al would've dearly loved to watch, but he knew this time he'd get in the way. There was no doubt about that. It would be a hassle for Sakura to explain exactly what she was doing. Perhaps Al would ask her about practicing medicine at a later time. Whenever this situation was taken care of.

Al walked to stand next to the figure on the bed. His face was less pained then when they'd first entered, but the shadows beneath his eyes were drawn with charcoal and his complexion was pale. The rest of the ninjas were standing in a circle talking in low voices. Even Naruto was being quieter out of respect for being in a hospital. That, or there was really nothing to say. Like any hospital, the room was sparsely furnished, but this was the epitome of minimalist furnishing. The ninjas were standing because they had to.

What Al wouldn't give for a chair.

For now, he just had to stand and await the next occurrence. Either Sakura would return, or her patient would awake. Either way, the waiting game had begun.


	17. Chapter 17

**Hello everyone! Thank you, thank you, thank you for being so plain… awesome!**

**November is finally over, and NaNoWriMo successfully completed! WOOT! =] 50,000 words written, and a second book 40 pages in the process. Wish me luck!**

**As I got a request to know exactly where in the Fullmetal storyline (manga verse) this fan fiction takes place, I will clarify. Al's soul detached from his armor in the middle of book 16 right before he and Ed head north from Central in order to pursue May. Up until that point they were attempting to study rentanjutsu in the library and discover May's location. They know there is a plan, but they don't know about the promised day. Soon after, Al's blood seal begins to become unstable. Hopefully this clears up some story placement issues. If you notice any inconsistencies with this new detail please let me know and I'll correct them.**

**Now, back to the story!  
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It was kind of funny. The worse things seemed to get, the more Al seemed to think. It must have been some sort of ironic testament to the type of life he'd led up until now. He just couldn't stop thinking. Wits had kept him alive this long, and out of sheer force of habit, his brain wouldn't quit functioning.

Now, with the leader of the sand village captured and another life pulled from the brink but just waiting for an antidote, Al found himself homesick. A stupid time to be burdened with emotions, but the sudden down time did him in. The first few days after awakening in this place had been bad enough. He hadn't known the language, hadn't been able to communicate at all besides simple sign language. There had been nothing to distract him from his thoughts. All the plans he left behind – the people. He'd almost worried himself sick.

The lives of everyone he knew could be at stake, and he was sitting in bed. Even while delighting in all the new tastes, smells, and feelings, that thought remained with him.

He was useless.

Now, he'd regained almost full mobility and could speak the language, but nothing had really changed. They had no reason to trust him, and no reason to help him even if they could. His biggest secret had been revealed, but there'd been no equivalent exchange. Al probably would have done his best to help if he were in their shoes, but he'd always known he was an abnormality. The amount of kittens left on the street was a testament to that fact.

He leaned against a wall in the hospital room as he watched the ninjas. Longing left a pain in his chest, and for the first time in a long time, it was a physical pain as well as emotional. He missed everyone. The more he watched Naruto, the more he was reminded of Edward. Every second waiting was a second further away the Kazekage was taken. Naruto could hardly stand it, and Edward wouldn't have stood for it. If possible, Ed was even more impulsive. Ed would have burst from the room and given chase leaving Al to follow or be the sensible one and collect information before just rushing out. Here, Al didn't even have that privilege.

He was the outsider. They had no reason to take or trust his advice, and even less of a reason to accept his assistance. The spiky white haired ninja was playing the role of Mustang – cool, collected, but just as concerned as anyone else. The oddest part was seeing Ed actually listening to him. That never happened.

The weight in his chest that had settled into place ever since he'd learned how very far away he was from home was almost crushing now with nothing to distract him from it. Al did his best not to let it show. Hopelessness was beginning to gnaw at his defenses, but if there is one thing that Elrics are famous for, it's stubbornness. Until every last rout had been inspected and every possible solution attempted, Al wouldn't give up. This wasn't just for him. Still, there was almost no point in getting home if he had to lose his body again to do so. His soul probably wouldn't even end up in the armor again. He'd have to be desperate to try.

The boy on the bed winced and his eyes flickered. Al, being the closest, was the first to notice. The boy's eyes seemed confused as they flickered open and took in Al's face. Not the person he'd been expecting. He groaned and the noise alerted the rest of the ninjas in the room.

The speed with which the ninjas arrived at the bedside proved the concern they'd been trying so hard to disguise. "Kankuro!" Naruto skidded to a halt almost running into the side of the bed. "Um… hey. How are you?" His voice was quieter than normal.

"_Naruto?_" The brown haired boy, Kankuro, sounded more than slightly confused. "And…" he blinked looking at everyone else in the room, "why are you all here?"

Kakashi placed a hand on his shoulder as he tried to sit up and calmly forced him to lie down. "You should wait until the medics return before trying to move. There are still traces of poison in your system. It would be best not to stress yourself."

Kankuro scowled slightly, but relaxed anyway.

"Do you remember what happened before you were knocked unconscious?"

Kankuro's eyes were dull for a moment as they searched the recesses of his brain and then suddenly flashed in recognition. "Gaara!" Kakashi's hand was already there to force him down.

"That's exactly the reason we need your help. You were the last to see the Kazekage's kidnappers, and we need any information you have." The single eye was focused squarely on Kankuro's face.

The Sand Ninja opened his mouth to respond, but was interrupted by a noise on the far side of the room. Sakura and the old lady were back.

Hinata scooted closer to Naruto to make room for Sakura around the bed. "I'm glad to see you're awake, Kankuro." Sakura's voice smiled. "If you could hold out your arm, I just have to administer the antidote to neutralize the last of the poison." Kankuro didn't even wince from the sting of the needle. Sakura moved some of the pillows so that Kankuro could sit up slightly.

The rest of the ninjas had all fallen silent while Sakura was taking care of her patient. _Apparently,_ Alphonse thought, _I'm not the only one who's slightly afraid of Sakura._

Once Kankuro was situated, Sakura moved back and dropped the 'no-nonsense' air she'd been gathering about her. Kakashi resumed his questioning by raising an eyebrow at Kankuro.

The brown-haired ninja took a deep breath before launching into a story about the blond Akatsuki member who could manipulate clay and had flown off with Gaara, and the hunched, red-haired puppet master who had poisoned him. Al noticed the old woman give a little gasp at this and step back, but she waved off the concerned looks and motioned for Kankuro to continue with his story.

Kakashi's eyes twinkled betraying the smile hidden beneath the mask when Kankuro told about the bit of cloth that his puppet – Al would _never_ be able to pronounce it's name – had caught on its arm. It was a piece of the cloak the other puppeteer had been wearing.

Al didn't see exactly what was so exciting, but he'd already seen so many things that seemed to upset the normal laws of physics that if there was a way to track such a faint smell across the ever shifting sands of the desert, it wouldn't really surprise him.

After that, things began to move much faster. The bedside group scattered to gather supplies for the rescue mission, and one of the assistants returned with the small scrap of red and black cloth. Alphonse almost jumped out of his skin when, with a few simple hand motions, a bunch of dogs appeared around Kakashi. As long as he convinced himself that it was simply some type of impossible teleportation instead of creating life out of nothing he could get by. He was just starting to get used to the idea when one of them actually _talked_. Al felt all of the blood in his face drain away_._ It took a lot of mental effort to convince himself this wasn't some new type of human chimera and that he should leave Kakashi's head on his shoulders where it belonged.

Even so, he couldn't prevent himself from wondering if he could do the same thing with cats. He would have to practice these – jutsu – things more.

But for now, at least he had alchemy. And, with alchemy, he could make a difference. This wasn't his world, but he wasn't just going to stand by and let a country be torn apart either way. They were still people, and they needed his help.

Alphonse squared his shoulders and wove his way across the room to approach Kakashi. By now, the dogs were gone, and the white haired Jounin was going through his pack and hurriedly sorting weapons.

"Kakashi." The older man's eyes flicked upward from his pack. "I want to come with you on the rescue mission."

"No."

"I promise I'll- wait. What?"

Kakashi began repacking his equipment. "_No_."

Al's mind ran one hundred miles an hour into a brick wall. No. He really hadn't expected that. When you were the brother of the Fullmetal Alchemist, a better martial artist to boot, _and _a more than proficient alchemist yourself, being told 'no' for something as simple as a mission request was not an everyday occurrence.

"But… you said these guys are powerful. Shouldn't you want all the support you can get? Why can't I come?"

Kakashi sighed. "The 'no's' final. Talk to Sakura, she'll explain. I'm busy."

Alphonse blinked in shock as the white-haired ninja resumed ignoring him. Apparently, he really was going to have to look for that flash of pink if he wanted to get some answers. Hopefully, Sakura's answer would be different.

It didn't take long to find her. Al caught the flash of color as it passed by the open door. With a quick yell down the hallway, she paused long enough for Al to catch up. He could tell by the set of her face that she was already annoyed. _Probably not a good thing, but oh well. Nothing I can do about it now._

"What do you want, Al?" Sakura sounded like she was trying to keep any of the annoyance from spilling over onto him.

"Well…" It would probably be better to just spit it out and not take up any extra of her precious time. "I want to help with the rescue mission." Sakura's eyes widened, but Al plowed onward before she had time to speak. "I know I don't know him very well, but from what you all say, he's a good person and this town needs him. And I really-"

"Al, hold up." Sakura was smiling now her entire posture relaxing. "I think that's really sweet of you to offer, but I'm not the one you should be asking. You should talk to Kakashi, not me. He's the team leader."

"I already did. He told me that I needed to ask your permission." Okay, so that wasn't _exactly _true, but Sakura didn't need to know.

Her forehead wrinkled the pleased smile fading off her face. "It's up to me, is it?" Sakura muttered something under her breath that Al didn't quite catch, but he'd bet his right arm that it contained at least one swear word directed Kakashi's way.

Sakura closed her eyes for a moment and took a deep breath. When she reopened them, her face was set in a calm mask. "I'm sorry, Al, but you can't come with us. You're not a ninja. That's what the lazy excuse for a Jounin _should_ have told you."

"But… but even if I'm not a _ninja_, I can fight. I want to _help_."

"I'm sorry, but even if you _could _fight," she said that like Al hadn't been trained to fight since he was little, "we don't know your strategies and you don't know ours. You'd be more of a liability than a help."

"But I _can_ fight. You saw what I did against-"

"Against a single ninja, yes. Not the Akatsuki." Her tone was final. "I'm sorry, Al, but you have to stay here."

Al knew that tone of voice. It was the same one that Granny Pinako always used on him and Ed when they were growing up. Sakura was treating him like a little kid. It was nice, in a way – he hadn't been treated like a kid for years since he ended up in that suit of armor – but at the same time it was supremely annoying.

Al bowed his head slightly. "I understand, Sakura. Thank you."

He returned the way he'd came and sat down, unnoticed, in a corner of the room. If he couldn't go on the mission _legally_, he'd just have to find a way to help on his own. Now, all he needed to do was a little bit of "research."


End file.
